Destroyers, Destruction, and Depression
by hodgep0dge
Summary: I hope you enjoy. I took a LOT fo time and effort for it! BTW Warren, Mendigo, Nafia, Chalize, Raxtus, Celebrant the Just, and some naiads come back! You see the Fairy... oh! I'm getting ahead of myself! You'll have to read! :D
1. Preface

Fablehaven

**5**

My Version.

By: **_Cindy Hodge_**

**Preface**

**Part 1-**

I knew we were going to die.

I watched everyone look at each other with so much compassion. Warren and Vanessa. Tanu and Ulline. Trask and Elise. Seth and Lana. Stefan and Caroline. Zolie and Newel. Jack and Chelsea. Narinda had tears streaming down her cheeks. Doren took her hand. She didn't shove it away this time, in fact, she got closer to him. Verl and I. These were all the faces of my family. And I'd never see them again. Ever.

*

**Part 2-**

This might be the last time I see daylight. The last time, we made it. But this was different. My family and I were going to die. So was the Australian family. No, so was Australia! No, all of humanity would end soon. Scientists always predicted the sun crashing to the Earth's surface. No, the truth was that in just a few seconds, the great demon prison Zzyzx would open and let all of the most foul, wretched, dangerous, perilous, treacherous, sinister, sadistic, and misanthropic demons of all demons (including Gorgrog, the demon Lord) free to destroy, petrify, expose magical creatures, but most of all, kill all of the living.

And there was nothing we could do about it…

Absolutely nothing.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Three years ago, I suffered from one traumatizing secret, and an overwhelming lost.

I found out that one of my best friends, who I also might've been in love with, was just the avatar of a demonic prince of dragons. And when I came back here, I found out that the Sphinx had kidnapped my parents. So after our two weeks of Christmas vacation were up, we didn't go back to school, let alone home.

My second cousin, Warren, got trapped inside a three-dimensional room while he was injured. Mendigo, one of our helpers is no longer with us.

So now I sit here, on a stool staring out the attic playroom window, wondering...

_Why us?_

_What did we ever do to deserve this type of brutal punishment?_

_Why do bad things always happen to good people?_

The only good that came out of this was that Grandpa Sorenson was now the new Captain of the Knights of the Dawn, and that Seth was our newest Knight.

There was a slight knock on the door.

"Can I come in?" It was Vanessa.

When we came back home she proved she was on our side once again, by telling us her big secret. Her sister, Teresa Santoro, was also in the Society of the Evening Star, but only as a spy. She was a trusted Knight of the Dawn, and despised Vanessa for betraying them all and crossing to the dark side for real. Vanessa had to do some convincing to get her sister to believe her. Even if Teresa didn't believe her, it didn't matter because Vanessa had also bitten her own sister. In truth, her sister was only a viviblix, rather than a narcoblix. Vanessa was afraid that if she told any one of her sister, they would think she also was a traitor like Vanessa. So Teresa agreed that Vanessa was innocent and helped me escape with the knapsack, that was now in ruins.

"Sure," I said. You could hear in my voice that I was on the verge of tears.

She hesitated for a brief moment and walked in. "I think I've got something to cheer you up, but you have to abandon the window and follow me," She almost sounded smug, though I'm not sure why. "Wait, this won't cheer you up, what I'm about to say I mean but, they might also mention some bad news..."

Of course.

I just sighed and followed.

About halfway into the living room I came to a sudden stop. I am hallucinating, I just know it. I shouldn't've come down stairs. Now I have to call myself in a sanitarium.

Right in front of me was… Was… "_WARREN_!!"I screeched so loud that every one in the room had to cover their ears. I ran so fast it was practically a blur.

I ran into him so suddenly and hard I knocked him down. "Whoa kiddo! You might as well run over me with a tractor! You're worse than Seth! I think my spine went through my chest!"

"But _HOW_?!?!?!?!?" I was completely shocked, it felt like my eyes were about to pop out of their sockets.

"Well, after a few weeks of living off potions, granola bars, and Yahtzee, I went through the vents. It turns out the vents lead all the way to a preserve in Iceland. Here is the thing…"

I read the horror in his face and helped him up.

"That's the fifth preserve."

We all stood motionless for what seemed like two whole minutes.

"How?" Grandpa demanded in a low murmur, barely audible.

"The vents led to the owners house. He made the knapsack that Kendra had. His name was Stefan, he didn't speak English, but conveniently he had a maid like Lena who used to be a Knight of the Dawn and spoke English. Her name was Caroline. I built trust and asked what preserve this was and she said 'Soul of Hope'."

"I've never heard of it."

"There's more. No one has ever heard of the preserve because it is the most protected. The Sphinx doesn't even know it's location, and if he did he wouldn't be able to go in it because it's spells are so powerful that even I had trouble staying inside the house. I was about to walk right out of the gates before he wrote my name in the register. But the Sphinx _will _find out about it and he _will_ find a way through its potent spells.

"Then we came to the conclusion that we absolutely _have_ to recover the artifact and they will help us. So… pack your bags."

"NO! I just… I CAN'T!!!! Do you _know_ what we had to deal with in the past few years???!!!!???? You! You haven't been around for so long, Warren!! NO! What if we lose someone else, _permanently?? _Do you know what that would do to me?! I'd have to be institutionalized!!! YOU CAN'T _DO_ THAT TO ME!! I haven't seen my parents for three years Warren! _THREE YEARS!!!! _They could be dead for all I know!!!! PLEASE! DON'T _DO_ THIS!" I hadn't realized I was crying. "I just want to find my mom and dad." I mumbled.

"Calm down." Vanessa soothed.

"NO! I DON'T WANT TO! I-I-I!!!!!" My voice moved on to hysterics.

And the it hit me… The Chronometer! Maybe, I could go back in time, to where no one remembers a thing. Including me. I'll have my parents back. And—

"I need to sleep." I abruptly said. Everyone jumped at the change in my voice. I'm not bipolar, but I had a plan. Yeah. I'm sticking to it.

*

I looked over and checked Seth's bed. He breathed softly. Almost as if I could hear his brain whispering _inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale…_

I walked over to the door and opened it. I creeped down the stairs slowly, cringing at every creak.

A flash light shined on me, right in my eyes.

"Gah." I gasped. I've been caught.

"Coulter said you might try something like this. I was hoping he'd be wrong. I am deeply ashamed in you Kendra. I'd never thought the day would come that you'd try something like _this_." Grandpa said with a frown on. It made me feel very guilty.

"(sigh) I'm sorry. I just…… I mean… I don't want to… what's the punishment?"

"No punishment. You are an adult. But I do wish you'd come with us."

"Mmm… Well, I… I g-guess………………"

"Okay, well you ought to go back to sleep. This would be a very bad example if Seth awoke. Good night."

"'Night." I murmured.

I went back to the attic and froze when I opened the door. Seth was up. He was at the window staring at the stars.

"How could you even think of doing something like that???" He accused.

"Seth I—"

"Don't." He turned around and walked to me. "We've been through _so_ much! Me being a shadow charmer, you being fairykind! Figuring out the Sphinx was a traitor! Saving Fablehaven so many times?! Why would you want to throw that in the garbage?"

"I-I'm so sorry. I d-don't know what I was thinking…"

"Apparently not." He scoffed. "You know ever since we found out what the Sphinx did you've become nothing but a brat! No, actually, tonight was the biggest bratlike thing you've done. Since our parents disappeared, you've become lifeless!" He was yelling now.

"Seth I didn't want t—"

"You know what, just don't talk to me anymore."

He walked across the room and grabbed his blanket. He opened the door. As soon as he did we saw everyone was awake and listening.

"'Scuse me. I'm sleeping on the couch." And he slammed the door behind him.

Sigh.

*


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

After the overwhelming news, and the incident last night, they decided that Warren was absolutely right. And I admired him for not bringing up the whole Navarog thing.

"Almost done?" Seth asked.

"Um, yeah let me just pack this last pair of clothes." I murmured. I was still unwilling to go.

"Hurry! I can't wait!" Of course Seth was bouncing around, up and down, barely containing himself. He ran down the stairs.

"So. You need help?" Warren asked.

"Actually could you grab that bag?" I mumbled.

"Of course."

And we were on our way.

*

We landed in Iceland around two-thirty a.m. Everyone came accept Dale. We called Stefan and Caroline about two miles away from the gate and asked them to add all of our names into the register. Once he did, he came and drove us to the house.

Caroline was tiny for an older woman. She was practically doll sized. She was fair-skinned, with curly blood-red hair to her waist. She had light brown eyes. Wore absolutely no make-up. She didn't look like the house cleaner type.

Stefan was also fair-skinned with black hair, a little mustache, and glasses. He looked like an archaeologist.

They drove us to the house in under twenty minutes. Their house was bigger than the Sorenson's.

We all went to our rooms to get some rest. It was Grandpa and Grandma in one room, Vanessa and Warren in another, Tanu and Coulter in the one across the hall from us, and Seth and I in the last one.

"Kendra?" Seth asked.

"Hmm?" I hummed as I slowly drifted off.

"What if we don't make it?"

"What? That's not a very Sethlike thing to ask."

"You're right, I'm just being paranoid."

"I honestly think you get that from me."

"Yeah, so do I."

"Seth, it's all of us. Of course we're going to make it."

"You're right. I shouldn't be worried. So, want to make a bet?"

"_What_??"

"A bet."

"Do you know what situation we're in right now???"

"Yes, but you even said we're going to be fine."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean it's fine to _gamble_!"

"_Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease_?"

"Ugh. Fine."

"Yay! Okay, so I bet you three dollars that by the time every one is awake we're going to find Vanessa and Warren like, dating or something."

"You. Think. Warren. And. Vanessa. Are. Going. To. Hook. Up. Because. They. Are. In. The. Same. Room."

"Yup."

"Deal's on."

And we shook hands.

*

When we woke up and got freshened up, we went to the kitchen. When we walked in we found Coulter, Tanu, Grandpa, and Grandma in the kitchen. A few minutes later Vanessa and Warren came in. They weren't holding hands. Actually, they looked annoyed.

"You owe me three bucks." I murmured in Seth's ear. He rolled his eyes and gave me my cash.

"You guys look mad," Seth said.

"Well, tell him to stop snoring," Vanessa said.

"I'll stop snoring when you stop talking," Warren looked at her. Did she… blush?

"Well, you guys are probably ready for some food aren't you?" Asked Caroline.

"I wouldn't mind some," Said Tanu.

"Me neither," Said Coulter, Grandpa, and Grandma in synchronization.

"I'll take some too," Said Warren and Vanessa at the same time. This time they shared a look like they were communicating with their eyes. They both looked away shyly. Everyone in the room shared a worried glance.

"I'm just not going to say anything because it's none of my business," Mumbled Grandpa so low, that Vanessa and Warren couldn't possibly hear.

"Are you guys like, dating?" Seth blurted. I elbowed him in the rib. "Ouch."

"No!" They said guiltily. They were so lying. What they looked like and what they said when they first came in was just an act.

"Mmm-Hmm. Okay." Everyone in the room said together.

"Pay me back," Seth said a little to loud. Not a yell, but enough for everyone in the room to turn and look.

"Ugh." And I did.

"Okaaaaaaaay, that just happened," Said Grandpa. "but be sober. We need to make a plan. Caroline?"

"Yes?" Replied Caroline.

"Do you have any idea at all where the vault may be hidden?"

"Actually we've got a couple of good ideas. They are very dangerous places though, I will let you know that."

"Will we able to get through though?"

"Yes. But again, may you be warned, these places are the most perilous, and since this is the most protected preserve I am able to figure out that the reason is probably because of the artifact it holds. So it will probably in the most dangerous place here."

"Understandable. And where/what exactly are these places?"

"One is on the property of the most powerful demon of demons."

"Okay." Grandpa said. When she said "demon" he looked at Seth, and then it looked like he registered it better when she said "powerful" and "demon of demons", which made his look change from 'no problem' to uncertain. Then he looked away.

"And another is the in the home of the most foul and wretched basilisk, and her four children, which are all supposed to be in Wyrmroost, but instead is here, which makes us believe that that could be where the obstacles to the vault and the actual vault are…"

Silence.

"How are we going to get past that?" Asked Seth.

"You will not be doing anything young man. Neither are you Kendra."

I wasn't going to argue. I _was_ eighteen, but I didn't want to get involved...

"But—" Seth started.

"No." Said Grandpa and Grandma together.

"But I—"

"We said no." Said Grandpa.

"Just—"

"Seth!"

"STOP INTER—"

"We sai—"

"RUPTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Grandma sighed. "Okay. Go ahead, Seth."

"Thank you. Now, did you not hear what me and Kendra had been through in the past years? And plus, we're Knights. So please just let us do this. We're better than some Knights. We can do this. You should've seen us at Wyrmroost. We TOTALLY ROCKED!!!"

"Seth…" Grandpa looked hesitant. Seth had him now.

"Please?" Seth asked softly.

"Absolutely not. You could get hurt. Maybe we'll just go ahead and send Coulter, Tanu, Vanessa, Warren, and whichever of Stefan and Caroline decide to come, to do some reconnaissance. Me and your grandfather will just stay here with you two."

It was time now. "Grandma, not to take sides but, I honestly think Seth might be right." Good thing I said something, Seth's face was so red it looked like he was going to throw a diva tantrum and storm out of the room.

Seth's face softened. "See? Even goody-goodie agrees."

Grandma sighed and looked at us. "Well…"

"Hmm…" Grandpa was scrutinizing us. "Ruth, look at them. They are so grown up. And they _have _been through a lot, and still in one peace also… And plus, Kendra's eighteen..."

"But, they are still just children, Stan."

"Some pretty courageous children if you ask me." Coulter mumbled, earning an elbow from Tanu.

Suddenly there was a soft knock on the front door. Caroline went to answer it. I gasped as I recognized one of the three women, which made me realize the other two.

"Hey." Narinda said as they passed by Caroline with no invitation.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Narinda walked in flanked by two other women. "I'm Narinda…" She walked toward us and everyone except me stood and took a few hesitant steps back. "This is Ulline," she gestured to the one on the right. "And this is Zolie," she gestured to the woman on her left.

"What are you guys doing here, and out of the pond?" I gaped at them.

"Wait, you're Lena's sisters?" Asked Grandpa in utter shock.

"How did you recognize them Kendra?" Asked Warren.

"I recognized Narinda because while Patton and I were going to the Fairy Queen, they were jostling the boat, and her head came up out of the water. I recognized her eyes are still violet."

"We came out of the water to honor Lena." Explained Ulline. "Now every one else in the pond despises _us_."

"And we went to the edge of the yard and found we could not enter." Said Zolie.

"So we hollered your name and only found your grounds keeper. We explained to him and he let us in. He told us where you were, so we swam here. We want to help."

"Huh." Was the only thing some of us could come up with.

"Well, maybe you _can _help. Maybe my grandparents will let you go with them. And me and Kendra will just stay here."

Grandma eyed him. "Seth, you _know _we're doing this for your health."

"Well, health also means not being depressed. You re making me depressed."

"Ruth, it's none of my business but, I really think they could help." Tanu reasoned.

"Ruth, Tanu is right." Grandpa said to Grandma.

Grandma sighed. "Alright. But first we'll send some of us to do reconnaissance, and whichever of the two places it is, _then_ they come."

"ALRIGHT!" Seth cheered.

"We can help." Said Narinda, Ulline, and Zolie in synchronization.

"It's settled then." Seth said.

"I must tell you about them though, so you can be prepared. Maybe we should start after we eat." Suggested Caroline.

"I agree." Said Grandpa.

At that point we ate breakfast. After breakfast, Caroline started.

"The demon's name is Kushanu, which means 'Fire'. He is a legendary demon. Some people called him a 'Djinn'. He is not. He is a demon who breathes fire, acid, toxic gas, and instant cement. He is made of scales, and they are so sharp that the only thing that can cut into them is a knife, or sword composed completely of adamant. He is also a _very_ talented shape shifter. His eyes can mesmerize you into obeying his _every _command, and they can also shoot laser beams that burn off anything they strike. His senses are very potent, especially his nose, so we'll have to be _extremely_ careful. People say that the demon of all demons is his brother, Gorgrog--"

"Yeah, Nero told me that Graulas served as the left hand to him. He told me this when I went to get the first unicorn horn from the centaurs, back at Fablehaven." Seth said.

"He was right. Please go on Caroline." Agreed Grandpa.

"Yes, well, where was I… Oh yes, of course, Gorgrog. Yes, well those people who think he is the most dangerous are in fact wrong. It is Kushanu. And that is what brings us to believe that the vault may be hidden there. He would be in Zzyzx, but fortunately no one knows about this preserve. And we believe that Brynhildur Anadstarcad, the founder of Soul of Hope, had earned his loyalty and brought him here to guard the artifact that grants power to immortality. That's pretty much every thing I can think of, but I'm pretty sure there's way more that we don't know about yet."

"…" Was what everyone's eyes were saying.

"Now let me tell you about the basilisks. Her name is Stefina, which means 'Crowned in Victory'. She, of course, has fatal breath and glance because it is woven into her being. She also is a little more dangerous than most because she has mind powers. She can slightly see into the future, only by ten minutes though, and she can burn anything in her way with her eyes. If there was a mouse in front of her, and she got bored, you'd see the mouse burst into flames.

"She also has her own little children. Four of them actually. Three girls and one boy. The girls are Silwia, Shunnareh, and Syllis. The boy's name is Sylvester. Silwia has the power to make you feel the need to do sinister things to friends and family. Shunnareh can bend all four of Earth's elements, Fire. Water. Earth. Air. Syllis has the power to change her body form. Turn herself into a liquid, gas, and back to solid, in order to sneak up on people. She can also change herself into fire, ice, water, metal, and anything else you could think of. And Sylvester has the power to make you blind and deaf in order to attack instantly. He can do it to more than one person at a time. And of course, all of their breath and glance are fatal.

"The reason that Stefina is so foul and wretched is because, when her children were still eggs, their father was murdered. His name was Shiva, and his power was related to Sylvester's. Shiva could cut off _one_ of your senses, which was touch, feel, how ever you'd like to call it. That and fatal breath and glance. His extra power wasn't as great as the others'. So he was captured, and killed. Two humans died in the process. But, the worst part was that… Stefina had to watch the whole thing. She escaped. But he didn't. So now, every time a human comes with in screaming distance to her and her children, she will go kill."

Every one was quiet for what seemed like twenty minutes, until my grandfather broke the silence. "Well, the only advice that I can give is to be _very_ careful." His voice broke.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Nine weeks later, after they had all the preparations ready, like equipment and training and stuff, Grandpa and Grandma sent the first group out, which was the one that was going to Kushanu's property. Coulter, Caroline, Vanessa, and Warren. The next group, going to Stefina's, left an hour later. That group included Narinda, Ulline, Zolie, and Tanu. After that, every one remaining dispersed. Stefan was using an Icelandic to English dictionary to tell my grandparents about Soul of Hope's history. Seth and I were playing in the garden. It was more lively and filled with more graceful faeries than the Sorenson's. There was more moss on the trees, but it made it pretty.

_Good thing this garden isn't covered in ice. It would be pretty, but the greenery around was just as perfect. _I thought to myself.

"Whoa!! Look over there!" Seth yelled.

I looked over to where Seth had wandered and saw what he was talking about. There, right in front of him was a faerie with two horns on her head, nine tails coming from the small of her back, and she was an inky blue color with scales all over. She had long silverish/blue hair that hung to her waist.

"Look at this one!" I yelled at the one heading my way.

She was whiter than Warren in his catatonic stupor! With glowing blood-red eyes. Her hair though was a brown that hung to her shoulders. But that wasn't what caught my attention… she had _fangs_.

When I noticed that, I ran out of the garden. I ran inside and went into their little library. Luckily they had some books in English because Caroline loved to read. She could speak and read Icelandic, but her native tongue is English. I guess she reads both types of languages. But hey, a book is a book, right?

I ended up reading _Pride and Prejudice _by Jane Austen for the sixth time. While reading, I remembered the very first time I read the book and I remember thinking:

_Ugh, Elizabeth can do so much better than Mr. Darcy. _

I was never very fond of him. But then again it _is_ a classic love story.

Suddenly I heard the front door slam. The first group dashed into the house, all were panting.

"Oh, _my_!!" Grandma gasped as she took in their flushed faces.

Warren was the first to talk. "That… demon is…(pants) too……… dangerous…… to… (wheezes) be………around…"

"We were…on our way there, and………………he knew we were………(gasps) coming before we…………were close enough to smell………our scent. He ran our way and...met up with us. We were consulting with him and he said we only had thirty seconds to get as far away from him………as possible before he infested the place with toxic gas." Vanessa said after four minutes.

About two minutes after the panting subsided, Caroline started. "He also said that if we ever came back, he would kill us without another word."

"Here's the problem," Coulter started as everyone in the first group stared. "Since he ran ahead we didn't get the time to see if he might've been guarding anything."

"That's a shame," Grandpa said as he shook his head. He had Stefan made them comfortable by getting them hot chocolate, and blankets.

\We heard a piercing screech. It sounded like a tortured hawk. But louder.

"We shouldn't've sent any of you out." Grandma said, shaking with horrified sobs.

*

After about three hours the second group came in, only even _faster_ than the first group.

"It's………………………………there……" Tanu panted.

"Don't talk until you're calmed down a bit." Grandma said, glad to have them back. She got up and helped them to the couch. Tanu sat in a recliner chair, eyes intent on Ulline. Her, Narinda, and Zolie were sitting on a love seat by the fire place. The first group was on the couch, Warren and Vanessa pressed to each others sides, squeezing each others' hands, with her head laying on his shoulder. Caroline was standing up, next to Stefan. My grandparents were in two recliner chairs next to each other. Coulter was standing, next to Narinda. Seth and I were sitting in separate recliners.

"I think we're good enough to tell you our adventure…" Started Ulline.

"Yes," Said the others in unison.

"Go ahead," Said Grandpa.

"Well," Ulline started, "we were _very_ close to their habitat when we heard Stefina scream in anger. She must have seen us coming. We kept going though, and we reached them. Stefina was a purple-blue. We could tell which child was which because of their powers. But before Sylvester could blind us and make us unable to hear when they'd strike, we saw a boulder in the center of their home. She was laced around it. Curved on it as tight as possible. The top of it had a key hole in it. And not just any type of keyhole, it was going in all different directions. That's all we could make out before we were faced in total silence. We screamed as loud as possible telling them 'Stop!!!!!!!!! STOP!!!!!!!!!! WE'LL LEAVE!!!!!!! LET US BE!!!!!!!!! LET US BE!!!!!! WE ACCIDENTALLY WALKED HERE!!!!!!!! STOP!!!!! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!!!! LISTEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!' They stopped for a little, at least enough to give us our two senses back.

"We consulted with them until they let us be. It took maybe an hour. She said if we ever set foot on her land, she wouldn't stop, no matter what we said…"

Silence.

"But we _have_ to go back!" I broke the silence.

"We can't." Zolie lamented.

"And even if we could, can we protect the artifact better than they can? Are we protecting the key to the Translocator better than the dragons of Wyrmroost?" Warren asked.

"Well, we _are _protecting the key better, because if we didn't go, we would've never unmasked G--" I forced the name out as best as I could, "G-G-Gav-in." Everyone in the room noticed the sound in my voice. It sounded like I was going to shake with sobs. "And since he was, N-Navarog, he probably would have gotten away with it. Because you guys know how he died. He was in an ava-t-tar." Everyone in the room noticed the bitter edge to my voice. "And we probably _can _protect the fifth artifact better because, he doesn't know the location of this preserve. But he _will_ find out, it's inevitable. And you even said that Shiva was murdered so, that means he could kill them…"

After a moment Seth recognized something. "Which means……_we_ could kill them."

A horrified expression took my grandparents off guard. Everyone else in the room smiled wickedly. Including me. :D

"HELL YES!" Cheered Warren.

"Absolutely NOT!" Grandpa and Grandma said in synchronization.

"Why not?" Seth asked.

"Yeah guys. We could use training an--" I was rudely interrupted.

"NO! It's _far_ too dangerous. And even if we allowed them to you two would _not _be going." Grandpa said.

"Grandpa--" I tried again.

"It's final."

"Wait. Just don't interrupt. Hear me out. _Please_."

Sigh. "Okay."

"We've been through _so much _in the past. All of us. Whether it was danger, betrayal, life and death situations…" I saw Vanessa bow her head in shame, and Warren squeeze her hand in reassuring that we were over it, and trusted her again. I didn't pause though. "And yet, we're all still alive. Seth and I… We fought a legendary poison dragon. We… We… We've been through too much to even _say_. Yeah, it's true. These basilisks may be even _more _perilous. I honestly think we can do this Grandpa. _Please_. Just, ………… Give us a chance…"

It took him a minute to answer. "I-I…I…"

Sigh.

"Stan…" Grandma said softly.

"I can't…" He whispered back.

You could feel the tension in the air.

"Please." I tried again.

"No." That was final.

"I won't argue." Ugh, even though I'm eighteen, and I should be able to do whatever the hell I want to do...

"Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me, this meeting is now dismissed."

"I think maybe we all ought to go to sleep now," Grandma said and she walked away with Grandpa.

Stefan said something foreign to Caroline. It sounded like "Ég er yfirskrift burt að sofa, ást mína." Every time he looked at her love and compassion filled his eyes.

**(By the way my readers, it says 'I'm heading off to sleep, my love.', in Icelandic. Check it out on Google, type in language tools. I'm going to be using it sometimes, and I'll write what it says, so you won't have to look it up… )**

The rest of us stood completely motionless for about three minutes.

Seth and I looked at each other. In that instant I knew we had the same idea. "Meeting in our room." We whispered in synchronization.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

We all met up in me and Seth's room. Me, Seth, Caroline, Narinda, Ulline, Zolie, Coulter, Tanu, Warren, and Vanessa.

"So we're doing this?" Asked Tanu.

"Absolutely." I said.

"We'll need training though. _Lots_ of it." Coulter said.

"How're we going to do that? We don't know anything that would help us fight. We only know the facts that Caroline told us. We can't train each other." Zolie said.

"Unfortunately, she's right," Said Seth.

"Yeah, too bad, uh-huh, yup." Agreed everyone else. I kept silent, hoping something will come up.

"Umm, well, not necessarily. There's a reason I knew about Kushanu, Stefina, Silwia, Shunnareh, Syllis, and Sylvester. There is a book you can use as a lever in the library. A small section of the wall goes and gets sucked into the floor, and then you have a walk through space, as big as a normal sized door, and it leads to another room. In that room there is a magical book in the center of the room. You say a specific name and it tells you directions from the house to the habitat of that creature, its power, sources, and everything. Unfortunately it doesn't have where the vault is so, we _had_ to send you, second group. The good thing is that Stefan is already asleep, and the door opens silently. He doesn't know I know about the room, so you can't even tell Ruth or Stan. I came across it searching for a book."

"_Perfect_." I said.

"But Stefina can see ten minutes into the future. And against her and her children, we're completely defenseless. Sylvester can make all of us blind and deaf at the same time." Said Vanessa.

"The book also tells how to defeat them. It won't be easy, but because of their fatal breath, we will wear gas masks. _Very_ powerful ones too. We will _not _look in their eyes, and we'll take Sylvester out first."

":D" We were going for it.

"This is our plot. Okay, tomorrow I need to go grocery shopping anyway and I'll do it as fast as possible, and when I get done with that I'll run to the Army and Navy Surplus Store and buy us all gas masks. I'll even buys some for your grandparents and Stefan incase they find out and come after us. Then tomorrow is also perfect because, your parents will probably want to book a flight for you guys to leave, which means they will want a tour around the places they _can_ visit on this preserve. I'll say I'm 'busy' unpacking groceries, so Stefan will take them. Only _some_ of you guys will say you're too 'busy' packing. So they aren't suspicious. And while they are gone, the rest of us who stay will sneak into the hidden room and write down _everything_ we need!"

"That is the most brilliant plan ever! How'd you come up with that? Oh my gosh we absolutely positively _have_ to do that! Perfect! Awesome! Yeahhhhhh hhhaaaaahhh! All right! Fool Proof!" Everyone was amazed.

We discussed some more about who would stay, who would leave, etc.

In the end it turned out that everyone except Zolie, Caroline (of course), and I would stay. Seth started to protest but I said "Well, it wouldn't be a very Sethlike thing to do if you passed up on venturing a new preserve…"

"True…"

Then we talked so much, we started talking about the most randomest stuff ever. It was fun.

We all stayed up talking till around 3:45 a.m. We all got tired.

Then everyone was dismissed.

*

Everyone was about to leave in ten seconds. "Are you sure you don't want to come?" Grandma was concerned.

"Grandma, I'm sure, okay? I've got packing to do. Go ahead without me."

It turned out Caroline was right. They booked a flight. And it gave us enough time to defeat the basilisks, claim our prize, and head home. Although we'd all be in _serious _trouble.

"Maybe I should stay…"

"No!"

Oops. " not???"

"Umm, well, I was…. I mean, I was just, umm… Well…"

"She was going to sleep in." Caroline saved me.

"Uh-huh." Grandma wasn't buying it.

"Umm, yeah! Actually, I _am_ tired." (yawn) "I didn't get enough sleep last night… Lots of tossing and turning…"

"Well, how is it that you know that?" Grandma asked Caroline.

"I asked if she wanted to go with you guys, and she told me." Caroline said stiffly.

"Why is sleeping a bit more so bad?" Grandma turned back to me.

"Well, I didn't want to seem like a slob." Yeah, that works. Good.

"Okay, then. Bye!"

Wow. She actually bought it… We _definitely_ have to be sneakier, even when they _aren't_ home.

And they left. She waited till they were completely out of sight when Caroline said, "Up top!" And we high-fived.

"Hey guys, lets get workin'!" Zolie came from behind us.

"Okay."

We walked to the library. There was another room in it that was accessed through double doors. We went through those and then turned left. _All_ the walls were stocked with books. We went all the way down the hall and stopped at one wall. She took a look at the books for a minute and pulled a hard cover navy blue one that read the words: _ást_ _hefur ekki gildi._

**(It says "love has no value".)**

When she pulled it out, as Caroline said before, the door slid down in the floor soundlessly, and a hidden room came into view. She didn't move. I tried to step around her, but she put her hand out.

She bent down and blew on the floor in the secret room. When she did, red lazer lights were on everywhere on the floor.

"If you touch those, whatever part of your body you used would get burned off." Caroline said.

Then she slid her hand in the room, on the left wall. We heard a _beep_ sound and then a code thingamajig swung out in front of our faces. She looked in the front cover of the book, and typed these numbers in.

* * *

_Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep… _With every number.

The lights went off, replaced by sunstones. The walls were a golden-cream color. There was a _very_ light wooden trim that complemented the tops of all four walls. The sunstones were _all_ over the stone floor. On the walls were designs of faeries, with lots of sparkles, which only meant it was pixie dust. I walked over to the wall on the right, and touched it.

"Ahh!" I gasped. When I touched it, it was _real_. I could pick it up! _And it never disappeared from the wall. _

"Amazing isn't it?" Caroline watched me. "This room is enchanted. There is a whisper hound, but it is not activated at the moment. We must hurry."

In the center of the room was a pedestal. On it was a thick book. The cover was hard, and brown. No title was on it. Caroline went to open it while Zolie and I watched over her shoulder.

She opened the book. The letters inside it were… _golden_. She opened to a certain page, and then started scratching down weird symbols. Shorthand. She kept turning pages. She took a few minutes on each page she turned, writing down the necessary.

"Got it." Caroline turned around. We followed her down the hall. She typed in another two codes before we left. "This is for the lasers."

* * *

_Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep…_

"And now for the code pad itself and the bookshelves…"

* * *

_Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep…_

The code pad swung back into its place, and the shelf came back up. She placed the book back, and then we heard him…


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Ég er _mjög_ vonsvikinn með þig, ást mína." Stefan. "Ef þú ert að fara að gera það, ég held ekki að við getum verið saman aftur. Fyrirgefðu, en …" He started to walk away with a nasty, disgusted face.

**(He said "I am very disappointed with you, my love. If you are going to do it, I do not think we can be together again. Sorry, but …")**

"Ekkert, Stefan! Bíddu, vinsamlegast! Það er ekki eins og þessi! En við verðum að vinna bug á þeim basilisks! Og við þurfum að fá að artifact!" Caroline… pleaded, it seemed.

**(She said "No, Stefan! Wait, please! It is not like that! But we must overcome the basilisks! And we need to get to the artifact!")**

"Getum við tala fyrir mínútu, einn ég meina ...?" Stefan asked, love filled his eyes once again, and they walked away together.

**(It says "Can we talk for a minute, alone I mean…?")**

It was then that I saw my grandparents in front of the whole group, wide-eyed…

*

"_What_, were you thinking?????" Grandpa asked, furious.

"Well, we have to do this. And I know it's not like me to say this but… I'm doing it. Whether you guys like it or not. I am sick of this. You guys think that you can just tell me what to do. I'm eighteen now. I can take care of myself. You even admitted it back at Fablehaven Grandpa! And Seth is fifteen. I am sorry but, we're doing this. Everyone besides my grandparents smiled. Stefan even smiled…

"N--"

"She is right. We must leave soon. I already have what we need. I even wrote down what the people did when they killed Shiva. I'll just have to run back to the Army and Navy Surplus Store." Caroline spoke up.

"Stan, Ruth…" Tanu tried.

Sigh. And they both left the room.

I shook my head and hung my head. "It's okay," Seth assured me. "You were right to speak up."

"I am going to run to the store and grab the stuff we need…" Caroline said.

"Ég mun fara." Stefan said.

**(He said "I will go.")**

"Okay."

We were studying and training when we heard a car pull up. We all stood frozen. Stefan came back two hours ago.

My grandparents walked in, along with Trask, Elise, Newel, Doren, Verl, and another girl who looked to be about Seth's age.

"Everyone I'd like you to meet Lana. Stefan, Caroline, Ulline, Narinda, and Zolie, we'll fill you in on the others. After thinking about it, we decided that you guys are right. So I brought in our best and most trusted Knights of the Dawn." Grandpa said.

":D" We knew they wouldn't be like they were earlier.

My grandparents were introducing the others, while we crowded around Lana.

"So… Your name is Lana?" Of course Seth was all over her.

"Jeez, let her breathe Seth!" I said. "Hey, I'm Kendra."

"Hi." Her voice didn't match her fifteen-year-old appearance. It was very high.

Everyone took turns introducing themselves. After the others met the others, then _they_ crowded around her. Then Seth got her again and they wandered off.

Verl came to me. "So… How have you been?" We haven't talked since I came back to Fablehaven three years ago. He didn't push it. He heard about Gavin.

"Umm, I guess I've been okay…"

"That's good…"

"So, you know I am eighteen now."

"Yeah, Seth told me. So I was thinki--"

"Look, just give me a couple of years…"

"I can understand that." He was immortal as a satyr. He is permenantly twenty-two.

"I was thinking, the artifact that grants power to immortality… It might also grant power to mortality………"

He smiled at me. "You want me to become mortal?"

"When I am a little more older… or I could become immortal…"

"I'd like that. To be mortal. Although I'd age a lot more slowly than you."

"You mean like Lena and Patton?"

"Yes."

"Then I want to be immortal."

"When you drink the serum, you will be immobilized in a deep sleep for one day."

"I don't care."

He smiled again.

"Looks like Newel and Zolie are getting to know each other…" I looked over.

"Yeah."

"Okay, lets get this show on the road," Grandpa said.

*


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

We spent at least four months—it seemed—preparing, training, and stuff.

We were leaving today.

"Ready?" Everyone was asking.

"Lets just get this over with." I was honestly petrified.

Stefan and Caroline had their own golem. His name was Fandaehh. He had the same build and loping speed as Hugo. We all piled in a wagon and he pulled us. It took us about thirty minutes to get there. But we made it.

*

Before we got there, we heard the same piercing scream. She saw us.

We all put on our gas masks, and everyone who had weapons also got those ready. Caroline and Stefan ran out again to get some extras for Lana, Mara, Elise, Trask, Doren, and Newel.

**(Sorry everyone, I forgot to add Mara's name for when they all came with Stan and Ruth!)**

When we came in, they were all crouched in position. The one in the front—Stefina I assumed—was a purple-blue color. She had spikes from her forehead to the end of her tail. Her claws were the size of butcher knives. None of those parts were what made her so intimidating. Her eyes were the color of emerald, and slits. The other four were in pairs. Two behind her and about twenty feet apart. The other two the same.

"Stefina in the front. Silwia, and Shunnareh behind her. Then Sylvester and Syllis behind them." Caroline said.

Sylvester's crouch shifted closer to us. His eyes intent on mine. He screeched.

"WHY?!" He said in a whisper like eighty angry men whispering in unison.

"He can't make you blind or deaf." Said Trask.

"That's impossible." Caroline said.

"There's more than meets the eye with Kendra." Said Tanu.

Suddenly, Seth made a noise. He turned his head toward me and then I saw. Seth's eyes were a lifeless grey. No pupil, no glare. He was blind and deaf.

I looked over. _Everyone_ was blind, and probably deaf.

Before I was even thinking, I grabbed the adamant sword in Warren's hand and charged Sylvester. I plunged the sword in his heart. He made wordless musical sounds, and then crumpled to the ground at my feet.

I heard a scream and turned fast enough to see Stefina running over to me so fast it was a blur. She was about five inches from me when her claw dug in my side. She dragged it forward until it was to my left side. It dug _extremely_ deep. The claw ripped out and Stefina was on the ground. Tanu ended up there behind her.

Suddenly he changed position and headed toward me. He striked me in my stomach with the knife and had a smile on his face when I screamed. Silwia. Someone must've killed her. He pulled it out fast. "(gasps) KENDRA! IM SO SORRY! I DON'T KNOW WHAT I JUST DID!!!!!!!"

"Here!" Warren came behind us. He gave me his shirt, and I wrapped it as tightly as possible around the area.

"WATCH OUT!" I screamed. It had to be Syllis. A liquid came behind Tanu. The shape grew until it was standing. She made herself to a metal and banged her head on Tanu's. He passed out.

"NOOOO!!!" I heard Narinda scream. I looked over to see Coulter lying on the ground with blood around him. He was dead.

Narinda attacked who must have been Shunnareh and killed her. Everyone else—Ulline in the front—attacked Syllis. It was over.

Ulline checked Tanu's heart beat. Tears streamed down her face. "He's alive…"

Doren walked over to Narinda, as she was sitting next to Coulter, and rubbed her shoulder. She shrugged away from him.

So, Coulter died. I was bleeding internally. Tanu was knocked out. Silwia also had Lana. She had also stabbed Seth, and they were now hugging. _He_ was reassuring _her_. Newel, Vanessa, and Verl were clawed. None as deep or long as mine. Everyone else was fine.

I walked over to Verl. "You okay?"

"Yeah… OH MY GOSH! _WHAT_ happened to you?" He looked horrified as he examined my scratches and forming bruises, and embraced me.

"I-I-I'm okay." I lied while gasping...so it was obvious. I liked the warmth of his arms. "Ugh, no I'm not."

"It's okay. They are all dead."

"I know. But we lost one of us. And we still have to deal with the vault obstacles."

"Maybe…" And while still holding me, he turned to my grandparents. "Maybe we should wait a while."

"I agree." Said Zolie.

We stayed for about an hour. Tanu finally woke. Good thing someone thought ahead and brought a first aid kit. I had a lot of gauze wrapped around me.

"It's time to go…" Said Trask.

"Where's the key?" Asked Elise.

"I got it." Said Caroline as she walked over to the wagon we were in. She pulled out a three foot long key like the one back at Fablehaven. Caroline was so tiny that the key looked sort of cumbersome. "Let's go."


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Caroline put the key in the boulder, and then started twisting it all around. The boulder disappeared in a pile of rubbish. Under the debris was a trap door.

It was covered with leaves, twigs and tree branches. It took about an hour to find. The trap door was made of a material that mankind hasn't discovered—except the ones who placed it here. The color was one that mankind has never seen. The design on it was swirls that were chiseled in.

When Caroline stuck in the key and turned it, the swirls all rotated. They rotated over and over until they were evenly on each side of the trap door and the middle was swirl-free. The middle now had a straight line through it. Then it opened.

There was a latter that led to darkness.

"I'll go in first…" Declared Warren.

"No." Said Vanessa.

"I'll go." Verl said, and I shot him a flustered look.

"I think I should." Said Ulline.

Before Tanu could say no, she started down the latter. He growled under his breath.

About two minutes later she hollered, "It's clear!"

First Tanu went down, then Warren, Vanessa, Stefan, Caroline, Newel, Zolie, Narinda, Doren, Trask, Elise, Seth, Lana, me, Verl, and lastly my grandparents.

When I came down I saw it! It was miraculous! _So_ beautiful! The floor was completely made of ice. No cracks, scratches, footprints, nothing but mirror reflections of everyone.

The walls were also composed completely of ice. Except there was intricate snowflakes engraved in swirling motions all over.

The ceiling was—of course—made of ice. Icicles lined up as a border. In the middle were messages chiseled in it. It wasn't English. I couldn't tell because it was not a language related to Silvian.

"_WHO _on this god awful planet dares enter _my_ home!!!!!!????!!!!!!" An unimaginably angry woman's voice screamed. It was as loud as the _Red Queen _from _Alice In Wonderland_ **(live action)**."If it is Jack Frost you will _not_ leave alive!!!!" She hissed.

"No! It's not…… Jack Frost? We're friends." Grandpa said with a weird expression on his face.

Gasp. A door slid open from the western wall. You couldn't even see the silhouette of it!

"Who are you?" She asked. She had the most snow white skin ever! There was the slightest bit of a bluish tint. Her hair was white also, with more of a bluish tint to it. Her lips were blue. Her eyes were a very light grey. She was wearing a white gown. It looked to be made out of snow. Over it was a shawl made of ice.

"We're here to retrieve an artifact that our enemies are going to use to open a demon priso—"

"Follow me." She started in the other room she came in.

I looked at Stan and Ruth and they nodded and followed. Everyone else came a couple of feet back. Their were more stairs made of ice. They also led to darkness. We kept going and going. I started counting the steps. There came six hundred and ninety-seven steps, plus probably another three hundred of the ones I didn't count. We finally made it to the end. Oh look… another door. She opened it and their was a room.

The room was even more beautiful than the other. It looked like a mansion. The top rose endlessly. There even were stairs leading up to a second story. That's why the stairs were there. And of course everything was made of snow and ice. What was up with this chick and ice cold things? The furnishings were made of ice and snow too!

"Please, sit." She said. There was nowhere to sit. Then in that same instant that I realized that, she raised her hand and wiped it in the air. Suddenly eighteen chairs rose from the ice. Oh. That's why she lives here. She sat in a thrown. "I understand you… humans aren't as used to the cold as I am. Here." There were little servants made of ice putting cloaks and cushions on the chairs.

"My name is Chelsea Frost. Me and the "All Mighty" Jack Frost _were_ married." She had a regretful face on. "_I_ invented what you call "_Winter_". I invented snow, ice, snowflakes, … _everything _related to cold! And _who _gets that credit???? _HIM_! That slime ball idiot! I taught him _everything_! I even have more power than him! If I found that no good cheating screw up, I'd kill him. And _I'd _be Ice Queen!"

"Why haven't you?" Seth blurted.

"Because I gave my word that I wouldn't leave this home. I have to protect one of the keys to the demon prison Zzyzx. I'm sorry but, I can't let you go."

"Well, you _have_ to."

Cough. "E-huh. No I don't."

"But, if you don't then we won't be able to fight the vault monster, we'll have to go back home, and sooner or later the Sphinx will come here and then he _will _be able to get past you. He will do _anything _to get to that artifact! And then he'll end up getting it and he'll find a way to get the Chronometer and the key to the Translocator, and he'll learn where the prison is, and he'll open it but he'll end up dying because he's dumb enough to think he could tame them and then the Society of the Evening Star will realize they are one hundred percent filled with idiocy, and they'll try to close the prison a gain, and then they'll fail and then die, and so there is going to be another problem on our hands and usually we as a team could take care of it but this time it won't work, and we'll die and then mankind will no longer be, and then… Then… Then… AHHHHHH!!" I've never seen Seth talk so fast. His head was now in his hands and Lana was patting his shoulder.

"Did you say… Sphinx?" Chelsea's face was horrified.

"Yes." Seth saw the change in her voice. Hope was creeping up in his.

"Oh-no… Come with me!" She almost yelped.

And we followed to another door, and more steps leading down in a spiral shape.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Once we were down stairs, about three thousand and eight hundred stairs down, was another door. Opening it, Chelsea revealed three hallways. You could go straight, right, or left. She turned left, and we followed. At the end of the ice hallway were two more hallways that branched off.

"Huh… OH!" She turned right.

Oh. _Another_ door. She opened it and we gasped. Treasure!!!! The ice walls were completely encrusted with the most precious jewels. Diamonds, sapphires, aquamarines, lolites, white jade, grey-blue jaspers, lapis lazuli, some onyx, moonstones, opal, pearl, quartz, tanzanite, turquoise, zircon, white coral, chalcedony, beryl, agate, and an occasional amethyst. It was _so_ beautiful!!! On the floor were umpteen jewels of all dark colors, not encrusted, but scattered in random piles.

Chelsea walked to the eastern wall and opened a door… _again_. Darn. I liked this room. The worst part was that there were _more_ stairs.

"What is _up_ with you and stairs?!" Newel asked rudely. "My legs feel like they aren't there!"

"Sorry." She apologized, still jumpy. "We're almost there…" She murmured.

We went down about two hundred more steps and came to another hallway. This time there were no more branches. Chelsea kept walking straight with a certain face on. I turned my face and stared at the floor. She was so pretty it made me jealous.

She opened a door and walked about twenty more steps. She came to a stop at a door that wasn't made of ice. It was the same color as the trap door that led to the very first room. There was a dial on it. She turned it about eighteen times. Then the door swung open.

"Hurry, everyone in." She rushed.

We crowded the big room. The entire room was made of that mysterious material. But the color was a lapis lazuli. You could see your reflection. The ceiling and floor were sunstones that illuminated the moon's shine. Chelsea's skin looked brilliant in it.

"Wh-what _is_ this place?" Lana asked in her trilling voice.

"The safest place on this preserve. And probably the planet… Nothing can cut through these walls or that door." She indicated the door we came from.

"Why did we have to talk in here though?" Seth asked.

"Because it is sound proof. We can hear everything on the outside, but no one can hear anything from the inside who's on the outside. Stefina's annoying screech could be in here and you wouldn't hear it if your ear was next to the door. I trust my servants, but not all of them."

"So why did you jump at the sound of the Sphinx's name? I mean you never leave this place so you couldn't've heard he was the leader of the Society of the Evening Star. "

She cringed when Seth said "Sphinx". "I always knew he was a traitor. I tried to tell the people who placed me here. They didn't believe me, but they saw enough fear in my eyes to not tell him about this place. You see, I was placed here centuries ago. And I do believe you that he could come through here. I mean the only way you guys came through was by obviously killing Stefina, Sylvester, Silwia, Shunnareh, and Syllis. And if you guys can, the Sphinx and his stupid army could surely. But he is more dangerous than meets the eye and/or ears. I remember, before I came across Jack, the Sphinx tried to make me part of his team. Apparently he didn't realize I had a special power that could read minds. I knew he was Rhodes. I wasn't as dumb as he thought. When I refused, he threatened to kill me. That was when Jack came in." She had an almost half-smile on, but mostly pain in her eyes.

"Jack fought off the Sphinx. He eve--"

"You know, I know the whole Jack story you told us earlier but… Is he really real? I mean _really_? Or are you just some psycho whose obsessed with him?"

"You don't know anything do you?" She said accusingly with hate in her eyes.

"Sorry, go on." Grandpa apologized for Seth.

"Yes, as I was saying, Jack carried me to rescue. And ever since then, not only has the Sphinx been hunting down this preserve, but he has also been hunting down me. See, I am _not_ a vampire. But I _am_ immortal and the _only_ way to kill me is to put a stick through my chest."

"But you're, what? Ice Person?" Asked Seth.

"Yes, I am completely composed of ice. Including my heart."

"Then, how does staking you kill you?"

"Fire is extremely powerful. One of the most powerful parts of the world, one of the four elements. But, that doesn't always mean it can be more powerful than ice."

"So, fire won't harm you... At all?"

"Not at all."

"So you're terrified of the Sphinx?" Elise asked.

"Yes." She looked down. "I thought you guys would have been on his team."

"We're not. We'd never…" Trask said.

"We don't blame you for thinking that though… You can't really trust anyone these days, huh?" Mara pointed out.

"(she scoffed) You're tellin' me." Chelsea said.

We all froze. Footsteps sounded near the door. _BANGGGGGGG!!!!!! _It wasn't a gunshot, but sounded like the biggest boulder on Earth collided in the door. But the door didn't shudder.

"(gasp) No…" Chelsea barely whispered.

"What?" We all asked in unison.

"Come on!!"

"Whatever that was, why do we have to leave, I mean you said nothing could crash into this place." Seth pointed out.

"JUST FOLLOW ME!!!!!" Chelsea became impatient.

So we did.

_Wouldn't want to get frozen. _I thought as I stepped around everyone.

We followed her to the center of the room. She stopped at a certain sunstone. She put her icy index finger on it and then dragged it across it in swirling motions. Each time she dragged it there was a thin layer of ice there. She put both hands there closed her eyes, then as she said something in an unintelligible tongue, the stone grew brighter and brighter until it matched the color of a blue moon. Suddenly in a blurry motion, she removed her hands and stood. The trapdoor swung open.

"Come." It was an order.

She jumped in the hole in another blur. Actually, more specifically, she crouched and pounced in it.

"Whoa." Grandpa said uncertain.

"Come. It's not that far down." She said. Her voice was a strange echo.

"Okay, me, Tanu and Warren will go first and then we'll help Stan and Ruth down." Trask planned out.

They agreed. When they were finished the rest of us went down. Newel, Zolie, Doren, Narinda, Tanu, Ulline, Elise, Stefan, Caroline, Seth, Lana, Mara, Vanessa, Verl. I stood for a few minutes.

"You coming down?" I heard Verl ask, concerned.

I looked back at the door. The same bang we heard earlier happened again. For some reason, I don't know how, but it sounded closer. All of the sudden, I saw a humanoid shadow pressed up against the wall run across.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!" I yelped inhumanly loud.

_I thought Seth was the shadow charmer!!_

"What?!?" Verl asked it sounded like he was about to climb out.

I heard a growl from where the shadow ran.

"Who are you?" I asked. I doubted it heard me though, I couldn't hear myself.

"My name is Faust…" He whispered in the most sinister whisper I've ever heard.

I gasped real loud. Suddenly Verl was at my side. I think he saw the figurine because he also gasped looking in the direction of where Faust was. He grabbed me and ducked in the hole. I practically fell and he caught me. He cradled me while running toward the others.

"What?" My grandma asked alarmed.

"G-g-g-ghost……" I tried to stop shaking.

"No…" Chelsea whispered again. "Follow me. NOW!"

She started running. My grandparents didn't struggle keeping up. We ran to a room. She opened another trapdoor and ducked in. We all followed, but faster and with no pause. We must have been running and walking for about twenty minutes. Door after door, stairs after stairs, step after step. We finally came to a stop.

Chelsea looked uncertain. She bit her lower lip and stared at the floor. "I was wrong. He came…"

"Who was it?" Ulline demanded.

"Let me tell you about him…"

"That would help."


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"I'm sorry. His name is Faust. Faust Lanlayannertackkehh. He has haunted me for centuries. I thought coming to this preserve would get rid of him, but I was wrong. Faust was Jack's best friend. He died in the sixteenth century because of Jack and I. We had cold in our hearts. Of course my heart is still made out of ice, but I've got feelings now. Faust got angry with me. He tried to kill me, or so we thought. So we got to him first… I should've known he'd be back. That bang we heard was Kushanu… I understand he didn't agree to the treaty. Faust must've summoned him."

"But demons, aren't they huge? How'd he fit?" Lana and the other Knights that came along with her and my grandparents hadn't heard the details.

"He is a shape shifter."

"_What_?! But that means he could have turned himself into a lizard the same color of ice and have been following us!" Mara said.

"No. I would've felt him."

Instinctually, I don't exactly know why, but I put my hands in my pockets. Gasp. A paper…

I took it out and unfolded it.

"What is it?" Verl asked. He still had his arm around my waist.

"I… I don't know." I read aloud:

_Hello Kendra,_

_It is Patton Burgess. I figured out how to use the Chronometer. I went forward in time to where I'd see where you were on this day. I see where you are. A very dangerous place. I snuck this in the jean pocket of the jeans you you should be wearing. I want to help. You will see me in about_—_occurring to the speed you read at_—_10 seconds._

_Sincerely,_

_Patton Burgess_

Exactly ten seconds later, Patton appeared.

"Well, my, my, you sure have grown. What are you now, eighteen?" He surely was jolly for the situation we were in the middle of currently.

"Patton!" And a lot of us rushed at him.

"Whoa!" He laughed. He was always so nonchalant about everything!

Caroline and Stefan just stood and stared. Caroline spoke what looked like Stefan thought. "You…… You really _are_ real?…"

"Yes I am. It seems like the whole bunch is here… Where's Coulter?"

Narinda choked on a sob and walked across the room to Zolie and Newel.

"He died fighting off basilisks." Tanu whispered.

Out the corner of my eye I saw Doren walk over to where Narinda was.

"Hey…" Doren tried.

"No, don't." Narinda said sternly before Doren put his hand on her shoulder.

"Sorry." He mumbled.

"So. What are we dealin--" And before Patton could finish, we heard the roar again. Along with it, we heard a sound like glaciers breaking against each other.

"No." Chelsea growled. She ran to the door and put her hands up.

She seemed to be chanting. It sort of sounded like, "I've done nothing wrong, leave me in peace." Over and over.

Ice was coming out her hands. It spread all over the door. More and more. Thicker and thicker. She still chanted.

After two whole minutes, Chelsea stopped chanting and put her hands down. The ice layer was nine feet _thick. _It was also ten feet tall.

In just half a second the ice layer was blown off. And standing right there, was Jack Frost.

"Helllllllllooooo Chelsaaaaay." He said with an impish grin.

"_What_ do _you _want?!" Chelsea growled ferociously.

"What do you think I want?"

"My powers…?" Her eyes were frightened now.

"Mmm, n-no." The smirk came of his face. He looked sad now.

"Then _what_???" She asked accusingly now.

"I-…I…… I just, want……" Sigh.

She walked over to him and stared him down. "_What_?"

He whispered something in her ear that was inaudible.

"No you're not." She mumbled.

"Yes. I _am_."

"I can't believe that. After what you did to me…"

"Just believe it." He whispered.

They stared in each others eyes and finally Chelsea said, "I- I do."

All of the sudden the roar came again.

"This way!" Chelsea and Jack yelled in synchronization.

And we all headed the way they went.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

We had to go through five trap doors, estimating about seven thousand steps, and fifteen doors to make it to this room.

The room wasn't made of ice or that mysterious material. In fact, it was made of jewels. The jewels weren't encrusted like the ones in that other beautiful room. No, these were crystals forming together to make walls, a floor, a door, and a ceiling.

"Okay. Obviously we need to get the artifact." I said.

"That is the reason why we brought you here." Chelsea said.

"Just through here," Jack pointed to the left. "we walk straight an—oh just follow us."

They leaded the way. Straight, right, right, right, right, left, right, left, left, straight, down, down, right, left, left, left, right, left, straight, and down, to a door made of ice.

"This is my favorite part." Chelsea took her right hand and grabbed Jack's left. The other hands were cupped, turned sideways, and entwined together. They started chanting spidery whispers that got tangled and made no sense when you took random words you made out and put them together.

Finally, they stopped and opened their eyes smiling. Their sideways hands came apart and they turned to us.

"The only way to get in this room," Chelsea indicated to the door, "is to have this key." She opened her hand and showed a miniature key made of ice. "The awesome part is that the only way to get it is for me and Jack to make it." She looked at him and smiled.

**__**

!!!!!

We automatically put our hands over our ears and looked to in front of us. A rat morphed himself into… Into… Kushanu.

He stood about two hundred and thirty feet tall, crouched. His skin was gold with black, red, yellow, and orange markings. His adamant skin looked scaly, the scales each as big as twenty mammoths and twenty whales put together. The claws were as long as eight white limousines. His eyes were a red with yellow markings. His barred teeth were too sharp to give an example.

Next to him floated Faust.

"RUN!!" Yelled just about everyone who wasn't immobilized.

I heard them but didn't register it. I felt a hand close around my upper arm and drag me through the door. It shut right in front of my face and I heard Kushanu roar in frustration.

"Oh no." I turned and saw Patton staring at his dissolving hand.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING?!?" Screeched Ulline when she turned and saw it.

"I set the Chronometer to leave me here for a too short amount of time. It's time for me to go." Half of Patton's body was gone.

"No…" Was all we could say.

In a blink of an eye, Patton disappeared.

"Great. Lets just go." Warren said.

Jack and Chelsea proceeded down the icy hall.

"Here's our first obstacle." Jack warned.

Right in front of us was an empty room completely composed of **(duh)** ice.

"I don't get it." Newel said.

"Wait for it." Chelsea put her finger up.

A second later a minotaur, a fog giant, a dullion, a goblin, a pond that a second later a hydra came out of, an army dwarfs, some of Chelsea's servants, and a centipede with wings like the one on Midsummer's Eve the first time Seth and I were at Fablehaven, came out of the blue. Some of them had weapons.

We were in between a demon and a ghost on one side, and more dangerous creatures on the other.

We were trapped.

"No!" Jack yelled.

"What? What is it?" Chelsea was alarmed like the rest of us.

"Our powers don't work!"

"What? Let me try." Chelsea raised her hand but nothing came out but steam.

"See? Nothing but evaporating water!"

In that same instant, all the creatures spread out and started attacking my family!

I turned and the only thing I saw was the goblin's fist. I instinctively took the knife I had in my hand and slashed it. I felt dizzy, and I heard Verl yell.

Then everything went black.

*


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

When I awoke, I realized Tanu must've gotten in his potion pouch and used a potion like when Vanessa did at the forbidden Dragon Temple.

I looked up. Some people had tears streaming down their faces, some just looked down like if they were shocked out of their minds, no one looked me in the eye. I looked around and saw the dead bodies' of the creatures.

Tanu moved out of my way and pointed forward wordlessly.

I saw them then. Mara, Stanley, and Ruth's lifeless bodies' lying on the icy floor.

"(gasp) No! No! No! No! NO!" I ran to my grandparents and sat near them crying.

Zolie came over and put her hand on my shoulder. "They were too old… and Mara was… Nobody saw it coming."

I looked up and also saw Kushanu's corpse lying down too.

"Wh-what hap-p-ened?" I managed.

"When Kushanu made it in, all the other creatures got scared. So they were easy targets, since they were frozen in fear. Faust turned on him as soon as he saw Jack and I were sorry. Kushanu tried to destroy him but, nothing could hurt Faust. Turns out he had a power of his own. Whatever comes after him he can stop, make it bigger, and worse, and get it right back to him. So when Kushanu threw a giant fireball at Faust, Faust stopped it, tripled its size, and threw it to him, but before it hit him, at the last moment, it turned into lava. Gave Kushanu second-degree burns. Kushanu used his mind powers to try and see if Faust could destroy himself, but Faust took advantage of his powers, and gave it right back to Kushanu. Kushanu disintegrated himself, and here we are now." Chelsea explained.

"But how did Mara, Stan, and Ruth die?"

"Mara was killed by the minotaur. Stan was distracted by the centipede with wings, and Ruth was distracted by the fog giant. The hydra killed them both." Ulline said.

"Lets just move on." I didn't look anyone in the eyes. Especially not Seth's.

We collected our weapons and more.

We walked straight, for three minutes. Finally we came to a door. We walked down the spiral stairs it led to and checked them on the way, like Warren and I did back at Fablehaven. Only two stairs were false illusions.

"Second obstacle." Jack said.

We walked in a room. There was nothing but a pond.

"Oh, for the love of all that is good." Zolie muttered.

"What?" Lana asked.

"Naiads."

"But you could talk to them right? I mean you used to be one…" I tried.

"Yes, but the fact that we were once, will make them despise us. And also, we know how stubborn they are."

"Shoot. Well, you could try…" Caroline said.

"Who is here?" Asked a naiad.

"That depends how many of you are there?" Asked Narinda.

"Wh—" And before she could finish, we heard a gunshot.

Stefan was shooting at the water.

"(screech) WHAT! HAVE YOU DONE!!!!??? MY SISTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!—"

_BOOM!_

We stood motionless for what seemed like an hour.

"I think we're good." Newel said.

"Yeah. I mean, wouldn't they hide and brag if he didn't shoot them all?" Elise asked.

"I think the cost is clear." Doren said.

"Me too." Trask agreed.

"What if it's a trap to make us think that?" Vanessa asked.

"Yeah, there could be something else down there." Warren said.

"Is there anyone there?" Ulline asked loudly.

"Okay, here's the plan," Narinda started. "I'm going to swim across and see if anything attacks me. Then if I'm clear, everyone else comes in pairs, 'k?"

"No! I won't let you!" Doren said firmly.

"Doren, you're not my dad. And you're not Coulter either. I'll do what I want."

"Please!"

"Just leave me alone."

She turned and he grabbed her hand. "Just let me come with you."

She eyed him and rolled her eyes. "Fine."

They swam across the pond, fast, but they made it. Then we started to go in pairs.

Seth and Lana, Tanu and Ulline, Trask and Elise, Verl and I, Warren and Vanessa, Newel and Zolie, Stefan and Caroline, and Jack and Chelsea.

In a split second, as soon as Jack crawled out of the water, a plesiosaur leaped out of the water and landed with a _slap_.

"AAAAH!" Lana's scream pierced all our ears.

Tanu had the best aim. He threw the adamant knife he was holding and it slashed the dinosaur's stomach. The plesiosaur screeched and then roared. It squiggled on the floor coming closer and closer to us.

"Tanu!" Lana threw the knife she held and Tanu caught it.

He threw it to the plesiosaur and got it in the neck. It yelled and yelled until it flopped back in the water to die.

And we started walking to our destination together.

*

**(I know this chapter sucked, but PLEASE don't give up on my story. I mean, ... I don't want to tell you what happens, but A LOT! You'll die. That's how shocked you'll be. Review!)**


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Oh." Chelsea said.

"What?" Verl asked.

"We've reached the vault." Jack said.

_Ohh…_

I looked forward and saw another room empty, covered in ice. The only thing in the room was a pedestal with a red statuette of a dragon the size of my little toe.

Warren and I automatically looked at each other.

"Oh!" We mouthed together.

This was the same statue as the one in the Inverted Tower back at Fablehaven.

"What do we do?"

"You have to touch it." Warren and I said in synchronization.

"Okay." Jack walked over to it.

"Get your weapons ready." Warren and I warned. I said that. Warren said :

"Hold on to your weapons."

"Here I go." And Jack touched it. He used super speed to get back to us. Everyone backed up.

I felt a sense of vertigo. Then the explosion hit me.

"Finally! Victory! Justice at last!" Growled a crazed male voice.

I couldn't see. There was too much smoke in the air. I backed away from where the explosion came from. Chelsea was next to me, and I heard her blowing.

Then the smoke cleared up with a below zero degrees chill.

"Who are you!?" She yelled.

"I am Caliber the Phenomenon! Brother of Celebrant the Just. He is good. Ruler of Wyrmroost! I should be ruling there! Me! And Navarog!"

I shuddered violently when he said _his_ name.

Before I knew what was happening, time moved faster. Everyone charged him. It was like super speed though. I stood motionlessly confused.

All of the sudden, fire separated me from my family and Caliber. I felt another sense of vertigo as my whole life flashed in front of my eye. I saw everything. Like if I was a ghost creeping up from the past to the present.

I tore the vision from my eye and forced myself to look at what was happening now. Caliber was looking at me fearlessly at the people trying to attack him.

I fell down fast. Everything was spinning. I turned my head with a jerk. I heard a crack in my neck and started whimpering. I saw my family and Caliber very faintly. As if I had twenty-twenty vision and I was looking through glasses specially made for blind people.

Oh, no! Some of them are falling!

My lids felt heavy. But I wasn't going to sleep. The sounds I heard were fading away slowly. The last thing I saw was Caliber falling to the ground with his wings detached.

And I noticed something.

Death is peaceful. No matter what. If you're getting brutally murdered or feeling excruciating pain, once you start slipping, you don't feel that pain. You don't want to go back even if the last thing you saw was the love of your life crying over your deathbed.

And I can't deny that…

*

**(You just wait. Go to the next chapter. It's cool.)**


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

I wasn't walking toward a light. Was I going to Hell? No. I was just walking in blackness. Not even the light illuminating me could make me see. Even though I was headed toward nowhere, I finally felt at peace.

*

I must've been walking for three hours. I felt no pain in my legs. Suddenly, I saw a baby. It wasn't developed yet. Like if it was still in his mother's stomach. Then for some reason I missed, I looked down at myself. I… I… I… I wasn't even human!

I was a ball. A floating beautiful ball. I was pure white, and shined bright.

I wasn't moving now, but something was pulling me to the child. Closer and closer, brighter, and brighter.

I tried to gasp but no sound came out. I realized something. Instinctually, I noticed that I was supposed to use the body as a host, be reborn, forget about everything that has ever happened in my life, and if something rings a bell, it is just déjà vu.

So God and Satan weren't real. We die, become souls, take place in a baby's body as a host, and when babies die it's because the soul didn't get there in time. So we keep being reborn, and whenever we have déjà vu, it is of our past host's life. **(it could very much be true.)**

Suddenly, I was being pulled back, and… I started to feel normal emotions.

Like: _Wait, why am I enjoying this? _And _Why can't I feel any pain?_

No. No. No. NO!!!! I was headed back!

_NO! I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK TO THAT HELL ON EARTH! I WANT TO LEAVE! I WANT TO DIE! PLEASE! DON'T DO THIS!! I DON'T EVEN WANT TO BE REBORN AND FORGET, I WANT TO BE HERE, FORVEVER!_

Too late.

I started to hear voices. Damn it, Tanu! Why can't he keep his potions to his self?

"Is she waking up?" Asked who must've been Caroline.

"Nah, it'll take a few more minutes." Tanu.

And he was right. I couldn't exactly register what was happening, but I was aware.

I felt my lids fluttering. My eyes opened slowly, and when they did, they weren't open all the way.

When they did come open, I noticed that we were still in the ice room, and I was still in the same spot I was in when I died. Or almost died. Ugh.

Verl was sitting next to me, I saw from the corner of my eye. I was scared to move my neck, because the last time I did it I broke it.

"It's okay now, you're safe." He said.

Slowly, I took the risk and turned my head. He was there.

"It was so peaceful…" My voice was barely a whisper.

"I get the feeling…" Warren came behind Verl.

I just smiled.

*

"So what did happen?" I asked as I stared at the shriveled corpse of Caliber.

"Well, we were having some trouble, but this big guy," Warren said enthusiastically as he indicated to Tanu, "climbed on Caliber's tail, climbed on his back, and slashed off the wings. Then when he hit the ground in pain, we took our chances and killed Caliber."

"But as soon as someone noticed your could-have-been dead body, Verl ran to it at the speed of light, and didn't come away from it until now." Chelsea said. "Caliber was using mind powers on you. He blew some poison toward you."

"Finally… The Keys To The Demon Prison have been discovered…" Elise said, holding the… fifth artifact.

"(sigh) Isn't it beautiful?" Vanessa said.

"Well, yes but not as beautiful as you." Warren said, and then they hugged.

The Immobilizer **(I thought Brandon Mull said the name of it somewhere in the fourth book, but I can never find it, and every time I read it, I probably come across it and I'm like, hey that's the fifth artifact, but I can't remember it, so I'll call it that, _(because I think that's what it was)_ do you get it though, "immobilizer" it bestows immortality, so it immobilizes your age???) **was made completely of zircon. There was a thick liquid inside it, that was the some color of that mysterious, but beautiful, bright color that didn't have a name because it had not been discovered. The zircon was shaped like a goblet, with the bottom a little bigger than necessary.

Elise walked away, stopped and came back. "Guys, look at these markings on the bottom…"

It was English to me. The words were in a circular formation around the big bottom. In a very fancy handwriting, the words read:

_If you read this passage aloud and drink, it will switch from granting power to immortality, to granting power to mortality—_

_I trust this Serum to my Soul._

_Change my Heart and make it Whole._

_Mortality._

_Mortality._

_Mortality._

_Make me Live, and then Die._

_No one wants it more than I._

_So open this Portal._

_And make me Mortal._

_Mortality._

_Mortality._

_Mortality. _

_You can only use it one time. After that, if someone else wants to drink, then they will have to do the same._

"It's what you read to become mortal." I said.

"Cool." Newel said, staring at Zolie.

"I can't believe it, after all this time, and four have been collected." Trask mused.

"We will have to set up a mission to get the Translocator soon." Tanu said.

"Which reminds me, since Stan and Ruth are dead... Seth and I have to be the caretakers of Fablehaven, but we still don't know all the secrets. And we'll need a new Captain…" I said.

"We'll discuss that when we are back at home."

"Okay. Maybe it's time we go now."

"We agreed to that before you awoke."

*

**(The next two adventures coming up will blow your minds. DON'T SKIP CHAPTERS!! READ IN ORDER!!!! Review too! PLEASE!)**


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

It took about five hours to get to the outside.

We said our goodbyes to Jack and Chelsea and left while they shared their Happily Ever After.

It ended up like this: We took Mara, Stan, Ruth, and Coulter's, bodies' to the wagon, and went back to Stefan and Caroline's house.

We called the funeral home to ship Stan, Ruth, and Coulter to Connecticut. Coulter would be buried next to his parents, and my grandparents would be buried next to the Larsen's, and my fake grave. Trask and Elise would take care of Mara's.

The rest of us—Tanu, Ulline, Zolie, Newel, Doren, Narinda, Vanessa, Warren, Seth, Verl and I—would take over and share the job as caretaker_s_. Since Stan died, there became three Captains. Tanu, Warren, and Trask. While I become a Lieutenant. Ulline, Zolie, Narinda, Stefan, and Caroline all became close and trusted Knights. Seth would be a Lieutenant, but he's not old enough. Neither is Lana.

*

When we got home, not only did we have to do funeral planning, but we had to go into the secret attic and learn all the secrets, find the register, and all that stuff. I finally memorized the combination lock. Four right to 11, three left to 28, two right to 3, one left to 31, and half turn right to 18.

Stan and Ruth's funeral would be in three days. Coulters in five. Trask and Elise called and said Mara's would be in nine. For hers we'd have to fly to Arizona because she would be buried next to her mother.

*

We're done with the funerals. _So much _crying.

And then we had _more_ troubles. We had to watch each others backs more often now. Always send the strongest to get groceries and shop and stuff, leave more strong ones at home with us, because the Sphinx had the Oculus. He probably knows everything. He could track us while we're in Kroger! So, pretty soon Lana, Trask, and Elise would move in. Then when Stefan and Caroline talked to the Conservators' Alliance and got someone new to look over Soul of Hope, they'd also move in. We thought of it closely. It was perfect, the Sphinx would see it coming. So he wouldn't go and give trouble to the ones who took care of it, because they would think it was a normal preserve, no special artifact, and since the Sphinx didn't get it, he wouldn't want to overthrow it.

The other bad part was that he still had my parents. He could threaten to kill them if we didn't give him the key to the Translocator, the Chronometer, and The Immobilizer. Or worse. He _would_ kill them.

Every time I got depressed over it, which was every day, I thought of being in that peaceful nowhere with Verl.

Ever since our adventure, everyone got closer.

Ulline, was already mortal, but she'd age slower than Tanu. So she took a second dose of the serum, became _more_ mortal, so now they age at the same rate.

Newel drank, and became mortal with Zolie. Since he drank it, he was no longer a satyr. He was Homosapien. But also since he was a satyr, and she was a naiad, they will both age at the same rate, but slower than Tanu and Ulline.

Doren did the same with Narinda.

And since Doren and Newel became some-what human, they became Knights.

Vanessa moved out and now lived with Warren in his cottage.

Now I sit here on my bed, holding a thick envelope. Inside was a piece of paper that read:

_You are invited to Vanessa Santoro and Warren Burgess's wedding on May 19, 2013._

There was more detail, but that was mainly what caught your eye. Everyone in the house, and everyone that was going to move in had one.

_I wish Verl and I could marry…_

_*_

**(I counted in my head. When I first wrote the story, it was 2009, but then when I added a bunch more, it was 2010, and remember the beginning? She said "Three years ago..." So I came up with 2013. ...Make sense?)**


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

_July 20, 2013._

Everyone that was supposed to move in already had.

"Okay. So the Translocator is located on a preserve called Obsidian Waste. We will have to book a flight to get to Australia _very _soon." Trask announced.

"Actually, we we're planning to tell you, Ulline and I already did. We're leaving tomorrow night." Tanu said.

"Okay. That's good."

"I guess we'll go pack." Some of us said. And everyone left.

*

Stefan, Caroline, and Dale stayed home.

We are on the plane now. First class. Verl and I are sitting next to each other.

**(Btw, they are on a Knights of the Dawn airplane, so that's why no one is bothered by the fact that Verl is a satyr.)**

"So… umm, do you need a drink?" Verl asked.

"No I'm okay." Ugh. No I'm not. I'm not necessarily thirsty, but I really don't want to be here.

I looked out the window and noticed that it was dark out. I turned and saw everyone but Verl, Seth, Zolie, and I awake.

Seth could barely keep his eyes open. After a few seconds, his head was on Lana's and he fell asleep.

Zolie had a book in her hand. A smile on her face as she read.

"Huhhhhh." I sighed.

"What?" Verl asked.

"Oh nothing, I'm just a little tired…" Not really.

"Oh, maybe you should sleep." He reached under the seat he sat in, and grabbed a pillow. "Here."

"Umm, thanks." I murmured.

I put it behind my head and stared out the window. Sigh.

_I miss you guys…_ I thought to myself. And I did. I wanted them back so bad.

"Verl?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"We're never getting them back are we?"

"Who?"

"My parents."

He looked down, as if he didn't know what to say. "I…… Umm, well, I don't…"

"It's okay. I already know the truth."

And I closed my eyes to sleep.

*

We made it.

It was so pretty. There was a lot of dirt, but it matched the scene. You could see forests covered in vines and wild flowers everywhere. Thin streams filled with fish I've never seen before surrounded forests.

"Wow." I murmured.

"Yeah, wow. This is so pretty!" Lana said.

"I want to see the Great Barrier Reef." Seth declared.

"Seth! We are not here as tourists. We're here as Knights to claim a prize. An important one." I've never heard Lana be ashamed in him. Wow. Again.

"Lana's right, Seth. We need to focus." I loved how Narinda was always on task.

Trask took out a map that he, Warren, and Tanu automatically earned for being the new Captains. "Okay, so to get to the owners' house we need to head west, then north, east, west, south, north, east, and west. Okay. Good." He started to murmur when he named off the directions.

"All righty then. Let's get going." Warren.


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

We rented a jeep, and drove a long way. Trask took out his phone about two miles away from the gate, and called the owners.

After a few minutes of telling them all of our names, they opened the gates and we proceeded in the jeep.

The gate was the rot-iron gate, like the one back at Fablehaven. We started down the incredibly long driveway.

I looked to my right and saw a group of faeries scrutinizing me. I smiled and waved. They liked that I acknowledged them and followed the jeep. They zoomed up to me.

There were approximately nine of them. One had long, fiery hair, with a crimson slip dress. Another had emerald short hair, and a dress that looked like it was made entirely of leaf. One had white hair, down to her forearm, and was wearing a bluish white dress that reached her knees. Another had blood-red hair, and wore a scarlet dress that reached her thighs. One was the size of my pinky, had short brown hair, and wore a pink slip dress. Another had black hair down to her waist and wore a black dress. One had an inky blue colored hair style, and wore a sapphire dress, that looked like it was actually made of jewels. Another had an onyx dress that went to her thighs. And the last was golden-haired and wore a solid gold dress. She looked like a jinn harp.

The one with the onyx dress stood on the edge of the jeep. Five took a seat on it. And the last three stood on my lap.

"It _is _true!!! The Fairy Queen really did make a mortal a hand-maiden!!" Said the one in the sapphire dress.

"Yeah, I guess she did."

The faeries whirled around my head in titters. Playing with my hair, touching my skin and making themselves brighter. Until we saw a house up ahead and they dispersed.

The garden was even more lively then the Charmers'. **(Stefan and Caroline.)** More flowers, faeries, it even had a little stream flowing!

We arrived at the house. A woman walked out with two men on her right, a boy on her left, another woman behind him, another girl behind the first man on her right, and another boy behind the second man.

The woman was short, tan, had blonde hair, and smiled cheerfully. The guy on her right had a beard and a beer belly. The second had a goatee, brown hair, was very skinny, and wore a stylish leather jacket. The boy behind the man with the goatee and leather jacket had bright blue eyes, brown hair, looked very much like the man he stood behind, with fair skin. The woman behind the beer-bellied man had dark, actually ebony, black hair pulled back in a pony tail, with Chelsea's eye color. The boy on the blonde woman's left also had ebony hair with brown eyes. They looked like twins. And they looked to be my age exactly. The woman behind him had light dirty blonde hair, tan, and was in the middle of scrutinizing our odd family, like us hers.

The woman with the blonde hair who was in the center was the one to speak. "Hello, I'm A'isha, this is my uncle, Aadyn **(she indicated to the beer bellied man)**, and Dragan **(she indicated to the man with the goatee)**, who is a Knight of the Dawn." She had an Australian accent.

Aadyn was looking at us unappreciatively.

Dragan smiled and nodded. "Hello."

"Behind Dragan is his son, Malik, who is also a Knight."

"Hey." Neither him, or his father had an Australian accent.

"Behind Aadyn is one of the Knights of the Dawn, Sarah. She is Sam's twin **(she pointed at the other boy, with the ebony hair)**, who is also a Knight. And behind him is my daughter, Riley."

They all waved, and smiled.

"Dragan, Malik, Sarah, and Sam are here to help retrieve the Translocator."

They smiled.

For some reason, Sam and I couldn't stop looking at each other.

"Why don't I show you where you will be staying?"

She led us in her home. The rest of her family followed in after us. Her house was smaller than the Sorenson's. The downstairs was big. You first entered the living room. Then there were two big openings, where you entered the dining room, and then if you looked to the left, there would be a cozy little library, not as big as Stefan and Caroline's though, but still pretty big for a house. Then the kitchen. There were two bathrooms downstairs. We walked around the dining room to find another opening, but this time it led to a play room, with toys everywhere. There also was a bunk bed, a crib, and a playpen. The walls and ceiling were a colorful blue, green, red, orange, yellow, purple, and pink. They had puzzle pieced designs. The floor was also puzzle pieced, and was a very soft carpet.

In that room were two adults. One leaning against the opening frame, and another was sitting in a peach-colored recliner chair. The one standing had dirty blonde hair, like Riley, and was wearing pajamas. The one sitting had brown hair, and a brilliant emerald eye color. The one sitting looked to be around his twenties. The one standing was around his late thirties.

On the floor were two toddlers wearing pajamas, two five year old twin girls; one wearing a pink dress with a red bow, the other a dark purple and black dress with her hair put up with black hair holders, her hands crossed. She was staring at the toys for a minute before she started playing with them. And she wasn't playing with them like any cute little youngster. She was hurting her toys. She had a pair of scissors in her hands and she was cutting off stuffed animals' limbs with them. The parents just staring with unconcerned expressions. And in the playpen was a baby laughing at everything he touched that was wearing blue pajamas with feet. The toddlers looked alike, with different features. The one on the right had dirty blonde with a tint of brown hair. The one on the left had brown hair. The five year old girls didn't have the same hair color either. The one in the pink had light dirty blonde hair. The one that should be institutionalized had dirty blonde, with lots of brown, hair. The baby had very, _very _short, curly light blonde hair.

"That's my husband and Riley's dad, Ashton." A'isha said about the man standing. He smiled. "And that's Riley's husband, Brayden." She indicated the man sitting down.

"Hey there, mate." He had an Australian accent.

Riley walked in the room next to the playpen. "This is Kyle. He's my son." She walked to the two toddlers. "These are also my children. Dalman and Macalla." Dalman on the left, Macalla on the right.

"And these are Riley's sisters." A'isha walked over to the twin girls. "This is Angela." She pointed to the one with the purple dress. "And this is Bella-Rose." The one with the pink dress.

"Hi." Bella-Rose said kindly, flashing a smile that showed three teeth missing.

Angela scoffed and turned back to "playing." A'isha shook her head in disappointment and looked up at us.

"I'll tell you about it later." She mouthed.

Angela snapped her head up, and leered at her. Scoff. Then she stood, walked right past us, and walked upstairs.

A'isha crossed her hands and walked toward us.

"Uh… why don't I show you to your rooms now?" She offered.

Everyone nodded. We followed her upstairs.

Malik, Dragan, Sarah, and everyone that was in the playroom/bedroom to start with stayed.

Sam came along with us and stayed by my side. When he walked over to me, I felt an unusual warmth I'd never felt before.

We walked down a hallway that had five rooms. Four bed rooms and one bathroom. The bathroom was at the end of the hall. There was two bedrooms on the left side, and two on the right, along with a bathroom.

"That's Aadyn's room." A'isha said, indicating to the first one. Aadyn walked in, and shut the door behind him. "That's Ashton and my room." The one on the other side.

"That's Brayden and my room." Riley said to the one next to Aadyn's. "That's Angela and Bella-Rose's room." She said to the one next to A'isha and Ashton's room. That door was shut and locked. "And that's the bathroom." She said to the one next to Angela and Bella-Rose.

We kept going to find that the hallway branched off two ways; right or left. They turned left first. There, there were six rooms. Five bedrooms and one bathroom.

A'isha indicated to three rooms. "That first one is where Malik and Dragan are. That second one is where Sarah and Sam are staying. And that's the bathroom. Other then that, go ahead and choose who wants the three left in this hallway."

Newel and Zolie, Trask and Elise, and Warren and Vanessa chose them.

"How about we go get our bags and get settled?" Trask asked.

"Okay." Everyone agreed. And the ones who chose their rooms left.

"Okay, lets see where the rest of you are staying…" Riley said.

Riley and A'isha turned, and led the way down the rest of the hall. Down that one were five more rooms. Four bedrooms and one bathroom.

"There's the bathroom. Other than that go ahead and pick your rooms." A'isha said. At the beginning she pointed to the first room.

Everyone picked.

"We'll go ahead and get our things too." I said.

_This is how it went-_

_Playroom-_

_Dalman and Macalla in the bunk bed, and Kyle in the crib._

_First hall-_

_Aadyn, A'isha and Ashton, Angela and Bella-Rose, Riley and Brayden._

_Branch off to the left-_

_Sarah and Sam, Dragan and Malik, Warren and Vanessa, Trask and Elise, and Newel and Zolie._

_Turn down to the right branch off-_

_Doren and Narinda, Tanu and Ulline, Seth and Lana, and Verl and I._

_Plus two bathrooms down stairs, and a bathroom in each hall upstairs._

**(It gets better and better. Just letting you know. DON'T SKIP CHAPTERS!! I know people won't really do that, but I want to make sure you read every detail! Review!)**


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Later that evening, A'isha, Riley, Brayden, and Ashton made steak, potatoes, Kangaroo fillet crusted with Mountain Pepper, and served with a pepper berry dressing and fresh leaf salad, and damper. And for dessert, they made pavlova, and lamingtons.

Everyone was very filled after that.

Everyone thanked them for the meal, along with Elise, Zolie, Tanu, and Lana writing down individual recipes.

We all stayed downstairs for quite a while telling funny stories, playing games, and such.

Finally the kids went to bed. Seth and Lana got to stay up with us. But Aadyn still wasn't appreciating our visit, and went to bed early.

"Okay, I think it's safe enough to tell you about Angela." A'isha said. We heard a hiss form upstairs, that sounded like it would've come from a vampire from _Twilight_ and the rest of the series by Stephanie Meyer.

Riley looked up the stairs. Everybody's eyes followed. No sign of life came from there. "Go on." Riley said anyway.

Everyone looked at A'isha for an explanation.

"Angela is… different from other children. She has the knowledge of… Stephen Hawking. No, in fact she is smarted than him. She knows more, academically, she also knows more about magical creatures than any of us. She could do more things than Patton Burgess. She also has a mind power. She can read people's minds. She knows what you're thinking every second of the day. And… (sigh) Should I tell them?" A'isha asked Ashton.

"They should know."

A'isha hesitated for a moment. She took a deep breath. "Angela is a dragon."

Everyone gasped, and gaped in astonishment.

"She wants to be a normal person. But she mourns by hurting her dolls, showing no signs of acknowledgement, unless it is about her… she found out around two, when she had the knowledge of a seventh grader. She hasn't spoke since." She looked up at the stairs. The she indicated for everyone to move in closer. Then she whispered, "She changed into a dragon while she was playing outside. Bella-Rose couldn't walk yet, so she was inside. Angela needed no supervision, of course. She was so lovely. She played with the flowers, and since she is a dragon, she has super strength, and super speed. So she was sniffing some flowers, okay? And she decided to run. She wanted to run to the water fountain outside. So she started to run. It took her three seconds to register what was going on, because when she started, she was only running for one-tenth of a second before she was already there. The speed was overwhelming so she gripped the side of the fountain for support. When she gripped it, she crumpled the piece that was in her tiny little hand. It made her angry that she didn't understand why that was happening to her. So since she was so mad, she transformed. She thought of herself as a monster. If it wasn't for Ashton walking out there and seeing her, she would've probably run away…"

"WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME!!!!!!!" We heard an inhumanly screech. A dragon the size of Raxtus flew downstairs. She was an ebony color, with dark purple markings. Her eyes were an onyx, that shined with hunger. She growled ferociously, then screeched again. She flew into the southern wall, crumpled it to pieces, and then flew away into the darkness.

*

"What are we going to do?" Asked A'isha, tears filling her eyes.

"I… I don't know. But we have to find her. Soon." Said Ashton.

"Why don't we start a search party tomorrow? In the morning. Around… nine a.m.?" Asked Warren.

"Yes. We need rest." Said A'isha.

"How do we track a dragon? They don't leave footprints." Said Vanessa.

"Since Mara, and Dougan, and Gavin- um, Navarog, killed them, while he's also dead, I'm the only dragon tamer left…" Trask said. "And I don't think I could handle talking to her myself."

"But, she's my little sister, she wouldn't hurt us." Said Riley.

"Yes. She would. She's in her dragon form. She doesn't care about anyone but herself. She'll kill us all."

"But… But…"

"I'm sorry. Dragons, when they change and are out of their avatar, and they are in their natural dragon state, their taste automatically changes and they prefer to stay that way. I noticed the sound of her screech, and the color of her scales. She's a demonic dragon. She had the same color as Navarog, except her markings were purple."

"No…" Whispered Riley.

"She'll go on a rampage. I'm sorry to tell you this but… she's much too dangerous to have as a family member."

"I don't care. She's my daughter, and I'm going to find her. I'll love her if it's the last thing I do." A'isha declared.

"How." Said Tanu.

"What do you mean "How"?"

"Bella-Rose and Angela aren't your daughters."

"What? How… How could you even say that?"

"A human can't give birth to a dragon. If a human has sex with a dragon avatar, the baby will come as a human."

"It must be some spell. She is my daughter. They all three are."

"No. You adopted all of them."

"Mom!? Is this true?" Riley asked shocked.

"I.. I…" A'isha stammered.

"Tell her." Tanu demanded.

"I didn't want you to know this way." A'isha bowed her head in shame.

"WHAT WAY!!!!!?????" Riley said. Tears gushing down her face. "I'm twenty-eight years old, and you never told me???!!!"

"I didn't want Angela to find out like she did either."

"What do you mean?"

"She started to read minds when she was one. Everyday I'd look at her and think I was a monster. Once she asked me why I thought that. I accidentally remembered the time at the adoption center, and she realized. That's the other reason why she stopped speaking. I imagine she would tell Bella-Rose if she had the chance. But Bella-Rose is too young to understand the predicament. I'd appreciate it if no one said anything about it."

Riley said nothing.

"I can't have kids. I never had a menstrual cycle. I've been menopausal all my life."

Riley started breathing heavily, her face turning a bright red. "You…… YOU! MONSTER!" And she ran upstairs. Brayden shook his head at Ashton and A'isha and followed her.

"Where's Narinda?" Asked Doren.

"What do you mean? She right—" Ulline stopped mid sentence as she turned and looked behind herself.

"Narinda!!!" Doren hollered.

There was no response.

"Could she had taken her?" Asked Zolie, shocked and scared.

"Maybe that's why she screeched. To drown out Narinda's voice…" Lana thought.

"Now we've got to get the Translocator, Narinda, and kill Angela." Seth said.

"NO!!" Yelled a sweet voice.

We all looked up to see Bella-Rose on the stairway crying.

"You're not going to kill my sissy!"

I ran up to her and said, "No that's not what we were doing. It's just that your sister is, special…"

"So am I…" She whispered.

"What do you mean?"

"I can see them."

"Wh-what, sweetie?"

"The dead people. They are all around us." Her voice was sweet and gentle. Was she... creating a distraction?

My eyes widened.

She smiled mischievously. "I'm also just like her."

Then in a blink of an eye, she shifted her weight, jumped in the air, and transformed into a dragon the same size as Angela. Her color was a purple-blue, and had black markings on it.

I screamed and ran, but before I knew it, a claw gripped me on the waist, and I was soaring in the air. She went through the same opening as Angela.

I heard my family and the Australian family yelling in fear, but most of all Sam yelling, "NO!!!!!!"

I looked down to see Verl staring in shock at me, and then at Sam, who was almost crying.

I squirmed and yelped, and the last thing I saw was a gust of green fumes in my face, I breathed in, and everything was spinning. Then, I fainted into a deep sleep.

*

**(Oh my god! The next chapter is... Wow. Review!)**


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

I awoke to find Narinda and I chained to a wall spread-eagle, like the first time I went to Fablehaven and Grandpa and Lena were shackled to the wall of the Old Chapel because of an evil witch named Muriel Taggert.

Narinda looked at me then with wide eyes looked forward.

Everything was blurry for a moment. I looked over and saw random movements of black, purple-blue, yellow, orange, red, and brown.

"Ugh," I moaned. Then everything started to get clearer.

We were in a cave. That would explain the brown. Stalactites covered the whole ceiling. Three dragons glowing purple-blue, and black crowded a fire. Which explains the rest of the colors.

"Well, well… Looks like one of our prey has awaken. Maybe the fire will have some use." Said a female voice that sounded like three women singing.

My eyes widened in shock, not because of the words, but because of the melodic sound of them. There was only one dragon in the world that I have met that could sound like that. Nafia.

I gasped an unusual sound.

"We meet again young one." Said……… Chalize.

"Mm, let's just get this over with so we can go to Wyrmroost." The voice sounded like a million chimes clinging together to make beautiful wordless music. It was Angela I saw.

"You're going to Wyrmroost?" I asked.

"Yes. We have to go. It is our destiny, we have to be there with our mother and to honor our father." Bella-Rose. Her voice was like ten thousand raindrops hitting a metal gutter to make metallic sounds.

"Who are your parents?" I asked.

"I'm their mother. Navarog was their father. I usually eat my eggs, but I kept them because they were my only reminder of him. And, when Chalize came back to me, I couldn't help but cry to see my very own daughter. The first one that I neglected to eat, of course, it was because that little nosy Patton of yours." Nafia said.

I was so shocked that I couldn't speak. Not only was the guy I used to like a demonic dragon, but he was a…… a father!

"But you and that insolent dragon killed him." She was getting angry now.

"How could you do that to our father!?" Screamed Bella-Rose, Angela, and Chalize.

"I had to! He was going to steal the key! And he was crazy!" I struggled against the chains.

She growled a petrifying growl that would've made me cover my ears if I could.

Then she lunged for me. Narinda screamed as Bella-Rose and Angela closed in on her.

"STOP!" Angela screamed.

"What?" Asked Bella-Rose.

"I hear someone coming… And Celebrant The Just is with him!! The dragon with him is named… Raxtus?"

Nafia growled at the name. "They're here." Said Chalize.

"They are heading right toward us!!"

Then there was an enormous crash.

Raxtus and a humongous dragon the same color as him came crashing in.

"Kendra!" Yelled Raxtus.

"Raxtus!" I yelled back hope filling my heart.

The dragon that looked just like him blew grey fog toward the dragons, and then they all froze and became statues.

Raxtus came over and used his claws to unhook Narinda and I.

"Whoa, how'd you get here?" I asked giving him a hug and making him shine brighter.

"'K, feel like I'm going to explode again." He said.

"Oh, sorry!" And I released him.

"Okay, well there were rumors around about how Nafia wanted revenge and that she wanted her children back, so we tracked you down, and when we found your location we flew here. Now see, since he," he indicated the man, "is very powerful, but good, he was able to break through the gates, but still close them on the way in. By the way, this is my father, Celebrant The Just."

"Hello there." I could tell he was powerful, his voice sounded like it.

"I went to him and told him about the whole Navarog situation." He looked down when he saw the pain in my eyes.

"I don't know how I could've ever been ashamed in you in the first place." Then he looked at me. "Um, might I ask, but are you fairykind?"

"Yes. You don't even have to tell me, I know, they left a mark on me visible to you." I guessed.

"Precisely."

"Okay, so I think we should get home before they start searching." Narinda spoke up.

"And you are a former naiad aren't you?" Raxtus asked.

"Yes. I chose to be mortal in honor of my sister's death." She looked down. "She was right. Being human is amazing. We should've listened to her…"

"She knows you know now. And plus, think about it, she's with Patton now." I tried to reassure her. I never told anyone about the soul.

She smiled and nodded.

"What are we going to do with them?" I pointed to the four statuettes.

"We'll take care of them. We need to get you home first…" Said Celebrant The Just.

"Okay. Go ahead and climb in our holds, and we'll carry/fly you home." Raxtus said.

Narinda got Celebrant The Just, and I got Raxtus.

*

We arrived at the house in a about ten minutes. Was that how long it took the others?

"And here's your stop…" Said Raxtus.

They dropped us off at the edge of the yard.

"Thank you," Narinda and I said in synchronization.

"Hey, are you guys going to kill them?" I asked, talking about Nafia, Bella-Rose, Angela, and Chalize.

"No, but they will be in a dragon prison back at Wyrmroost for the rest of their lives." Said Raxtus.

"Okay. Well, thank you again."

"You are welcome, it was nice meeting you, I hope we meet again someday soon." Said Celebrant The Just.

"I hope I see you guys again too. See you around Kendra." Said Raxtus as they took flight and vanished in the night.

"Here we go." Narinda said.

I nodded and she opened the back door.

"You're here!" Yelled Sam in excitement.

Verl ran to me and caught me in an embrace. Doren did the same with Narinda.

The rest of that night Narinda and I explained what happened, and Narinda added more than I could because she was awake longer than me. Then we made a game plan for when we get to the artifact. First a bunch of them were going to do some reconnaissance for the places A'isha and Ashton had in mind. Riley and Brayden had come downstairs when Bella-Rose had taken me. Verl didn't let go of me the whole night.

For some reason, the entire time he held on to me, I was kind of… mad. Sam and I just kept looking at each other, like if, we actually liked each other…

*


	21. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

I haven't slept all night… I've been tossing and turning, breathing unevenly, shivering when I'm warm… All I can do is sigh to my helplessness.

"You okay?" Verl asked. He's been awake with me the entire night. Not saying anything, hoping I'll finally fall asleep. He's tried rocking me to sleep also. Nothing will work. Anxiety has officially taken over.

"I just can't sleep. I don't know why. I guess I'm just kind of nervous for everyone that's going to do some reconnaissance…" That wasn't true at all. I was still grieving over not only the fact that Gavin was Navarog, but he and Nafia had… children…

"You don't have to worry," he assured me, "everything is going to be fine. They are professionals, they'll handle themselves." Weird how in that first sentence it sounded like he was reassuring me about my real problem…

"(sigh) I hope you're right…"

"I'd say that we don't have to do this, but we do."

"No really, it's fine. I wouldn't want them to procrastinate something this important…"

Then I fell asleep in his arms.

*

I was running. Running in red darkness. Something is chasing me. Something evil. But what is it? I heard the roar and felt the ground shaking beneath me. I turned and saw millions of demons, all of them taller than Burj Khalifa, surrounding me.

All of them were crazed with hunger, they'd already eaten my family. They've already eaten humanity. I was the only girl, the only human left on this destroyed planet.

I was so scared I started hyperventilating. I turned to run away, but when I turned I couldn't go any farther. There was a giant wall blocking passage. I started pounding on it.

It eventually fell. But I paused when it did. There, right in front of me, were the dead bodies of my family. Drained of their blood as if a vampire had gotten to them.

I screamed but it was too late. They've trapped me. Fire surrounded me, burned me, and distracted me from the monsters behind me. I didn't feel any pain though. And that's when it occurred to me. This was a nightmare.

As soon as I realized that, everything disappeared in a flash. I was standing alone in pitch black darkness. No light but the dimness illuminating off me. Suddenly, a girl that looked exactly like me when I was fifteen started walking toward me.

"Kendra…" She said.

"Who are you?" My voice was barely a whisper.

"You have to stop him. He'll succeed! He'll open those gates. It's impossible to stop him. He's already furious for not having all the keys! Please! Don't let him get to them!" She started crying.

"I won't." I didn't know what she was talking about, but I didn't feel like asking. Something told me not to.

"It's too late." She sat cross-legged.

"What do you mean?"

"What you just saw is the future. It's going to happen inevitably…"

"I don't…"

And then she was gone with one last sound of a chocked sob.

*

I awoke with a sudden gasp.

"Whoa, are-are you okay?" Verl was concerned.

"Um, yeah, I-I'm fine." I breathed heavily.

"Okay, that's it, I'm going to talk to Warren, Tanu and Trask, you just can't handle this." He started getting up.

"No!" I grabbed his arm. "Don't. I'm fine. Really."

"No. You're not. Your eyes are giving you away…" That's when I realized I had tears going down my cheeks.

"Verl… I know what's going to happen."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, it wasn't a nightmare. It was a vision."

"How… How do you know?"

"Do you remember when you first met me? I was fifteen…"

"Yeah, I do. Why?"

"That fifteen year old Kendra came and told me… He's going to get the keys…"

"Who?"

"(sob) The Sphinx."

*


	22. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

After the announcement I had given to Verl the night before, we decided to talk to the family. We still did not entirely trust the Australian family, so we only got our people.

We talked about, well, everything. I told them every single little detail, even that the demons were taller than the tallest building on Earth.

We planned to get people to do some reconnaissance soon. The people who were going were Warren, Tanu, Trask, Elise, Zolie, Newel, Narinda, Vanessa, and Ulline. Of course, some of the Australians were going too. We just didn't know which ones…

Now Verl and I sat in their living room.

"(sigh) I don't get it…" I said.

"What?" He asked.

"She said it was a vision. Does that mean that Zzyzx will open, and that I'll be the last person on Earth?"

"No. Zzyzx will not open. _I'll_ keep _you_ safe, and we'll _all_ keep _it_ locked."

"I don't know… I mean, I saw all of your dead bodies, I-I don't want that to happen…"

"It won't."

"You don't know that, Verl!"

"Yes, I do." He said, it didn't sound like a statement. More like he was trying to demand me to believe him…

"No Verl. You don't. No one does! It's impossible."

"It's not going to open."

I was done arguing. I huffed and walked away. I walked out their back door, into their yard, and on a bench.

I looked up at the evening stars. They were so pretty.

"Hey there." Seth came out.

"Hi." I murmured.

"I heard you and—"

"It was just a discussion."

"A pretty loud discussion if you ask me…"

"(sigh) It doesn't even matter."

"Okay, but we need to focus. Ashton, Brayden, Riley, Sarah, Sam, and Dragan are going with the rest of them."

"They're all going?" I was a little worried of Sam... What's up with us? **(You just wait Kendra... You just wait...)**

"Yeah."

"Oh. Okay. Um, could I have some alone time?"

"Um, sure… Why not? I just wanted to have a conversation because, you know, we haven't actually talked since you were like, fifteen."

"I know……"

""Know what? Doesn't even matter, we'll talk some other time…" And he left.

I looked back up at the dimming sky. The moon was coming up already. A full moon.

"Well, they sure are pretty aren't they?" A Tennessee accent said.

"Huh?" I looked over to see a plump faerie with sky blue wings, and a silver gown looking up at the sky.

"The stars. You see them real clear out here…"

"Yeah, I-I guess…"

"Wait, you speak Silvian?"

"Yeah… I'm fairykind."

"(gasp) You're her!" She jumped up and darted toward me. "Oh my!" She touched my face with a tiny palm. She shone brighter and brighter till it felt like I was looking at the Sun through a telescope. I covered my eyes before I went blind.

"Whoa!!!! Coolness!!!!"

"Yeah. I guess."

"I need to go spread the word!" Then she flew off.

_Jeez, can't even get any alone time without nature bothering you… _I thought to myself.

Then I went back inside before I was mobbed by faeries.

*

"Are you sure you want to go?" Asked A'isha to Ashton. "Maybe you should stay…"

"No. I have to do this. I promise we'll come back. It's not like we're actually going after the artifact now……" He said.

"O-okay… I'l-I'll see you soon…" She said. And gave him a big hug.

"Bye." He said, and walked away with everyone else that was going.

Before any of this happened, A'isha had told everyone where the places are, and what are held in them.

One of the places was the habitat of two rocs. The second is the habitat of nine wendigos.

My family was going to see the rocs. The others would see the wendigos.

I was so worried about Sam. It felt like at any moment, I'd start crying, and it would start this whole thing between Verl and I.

Sam gave me a final glance, a sad face. Like if seeing me sad for him made him... Feel the same for me if I was leaving.

"So, what are you guys in the mood for?" She asked us.

"What do you mean?" Asked Lana, we were all totally spacing out, transfixed on staring at the others leave.

"Food. You have to be hungry…"

"Oh, yeah, um, whatever you're going to make we guess." Seth said.

"Okay." And she walked into the kitchen, and got a bunch of ingredients out.

"So… (sigh) what are you guys so fixated on, they can't fail…" I tried to change the subject.

"But I was supposed to go…" Said Doren.

"Doren, they will all be fine…" I said.

"But—"

"No."

"(sigh) Okay, fine."

"Good, um, how about we do something to get our minds off of what just happened."

"Yeah."

"I need some help in the kitchen." A'isha came out of the kitchen, holding a dishtowel in both hands.

"I'll come." Lana followed her in.

The way Seth looked at her made me feel grateful that neither of them went and got separated like Doren and Narinda.

"Hello there." We turned to find Aadyn walk toward us.

"Hi." I said.

"I came to apologize. I was really rude when you guys first came here. I wanted you to know that I appreciate your help."

"So, why were you so mean when we came?"

"I thought that we wouldn't need your help. That you guys were here to invade, and I didn't trust you because I thought you might've been working with the Sphinx."

"Don't worry, we also have trust issues…" I didn't want to give it up and tell them about how we were hesitant to tell them about my nightmares…

":D"

":D"

We occupied ourselves playing old board games we played as children; we ate dinner; playing tag and hide-and-go-seek with the toddlers while listening to Kyle scream laugh while watching the adults run like little kids; and then when the time came, we told the Dalman and Macalla that if they didn't go to sleep, they would grow tails and monkey faces.

"Guys, you won't believe what I found…" Lana said. We had all—our family—decided to go in me and Verl's room when no one ever came back.

"What?" Seth asked.

"In one of the cook books, there was a piece of paper hanging out of it. I'm not saying I'm nosy or anything, but… a word… or a name, caught my eye. When she wasn't looking, I leaned in acting like I was getting a spice, and it said "Sphinx " and it listed twenty numbers, and more that I couldn't see."

There was a log pause.

"But that means…" I said in a whisper.

"They're traitors."

"What if that's the reason no one came back? What if they did something to them?" Doren said.

"We can't jump to conclusions. They won't hurt them, they need us to help get the artifact first. So we wait for them to come back, and then we have a meeting in here."

"But what are we going to do?"

There was another long pause as I tried to figure out a plan.

"We don't need their help to get the artifact, but they need ours, so we help them, but we steal it and run away."

"I agree." We all gasped as Aadyn walked in the room, holding a folded piece of paper.

*


	23. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

**Aadyn's POV-**

We just ate dinner, played with the kids, and then lied to them to get them to sleep already.

Now I'm on my way up to the Sorenson's room to wish them good night.

"In one of the cook books, there was a piece of paper hanging out of it. I'm not saying I'm nosy or anything, but… a word… or a name, caught my eye. When she wasn't looking, I leaned in acting like I was getting a spice, and it said "Sphinx " and it listed twenty numbers, and more that I couldn't see."

There was a pause.

"They're traitors." I heard who must've been Lana.

"What if that's the reason no one came back? What if they did something to them?" Doren said.

"We can't jump to conclusions. They won't hurt them, they need us to help get the artifact first. So we wait for them to come back, and then we have a meeting in here."

"But what are we going to do?"

That's when I snapped. I ran downstairs, making sure A'isha was cradling Kyle and reading a story to Dalman and Macalla.

I went into the kitchen and checked the cook books scattered around one of the counters.

There, in an Australian cook book was a piece of paper. Lana wasn't so specific though.

_Sphinx . Call every time you think you might've come close to figuring out where the Translocator key maybe hidden, and we'll come to help you retrieve it._

_-Mr. Lich._

There were sixty numbers listed. I slipped it out of the book. The bottom was folded. I folded it more, and dashed upstairs.

"Aadyn? Is that you?" I heard A'isha ask. Yuck. Traitor. Disgusting.

"Um, yeah."

"Why are you in such a hurry?" She appeared at the end of the staircase.

"Um, I have to go… you know, to the bathroom."

"Oh. So, what do you have there?"

"What do you mean."

"The piece of paper in your hand?"

"Oh, it's just… teeth whitening strips."

"Oh. Seems kind of an odd time to use those, don't you think?"

"Um, well, I didn't believe the commercials and you know me, I'm… impatient…"

She laughed. "Okay then, go ahead, have fun, knock yourself out." And she walked away.

I kept going on my way to their room.

"We don't need their help to get the artifact, but they need ours, so we help them, but we steal it and run away." I heard Kendra say.

I walked in and said, "I agree."

*


	24. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

**Kendra's POV-**

"Aadyn." I said and stood up.

"No, it's okay, we need to stop them…" He said.

I gasped really loud.

"What?" Verl asked.

"They… They might know where my parents are." I whispered.

Verl's eyes widened as he understood.

Then, in that same instant, we heard a big slam. The others panted so loudly that we could hear it from upstairs.

We all looked at each other, alarmed. Aadyn slipped the paper in his pocket and then started in the hall. "Come on!" He yelled after us.

We got up and dipped down the hall, left, down that hall, and down the large set of stairs.

When we got down stairs, we saw everyone panting, and wiping away sweat.

"Oh my gosh! What happened?" Doren asked Narinda and the others. Mostly Narinda.

"We went…… to see…… the rocs……… And they went…… to go…… see the wendigos……" Vanessa tried.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down." Malik patted her on the back. Warren came and reclaimed her, flashing him a dark look. Malik looked away shyly and went to stand by his father.

After a couple of minutes Tanu started. "The rocs were far too dangerous to be near. We only got within five hundred meters with them already being able to sense us. We didn't have the right material to confront them, and with the sound of their cries, we decided that they hadn't eaten dinner…"

Sarah spoke for their adventure. "We went near enough to the wendigos that they saw us, and almost attacked us. We did confront them."

Sam. "But they weren't too friendly, they said we only had about three minutes to explain, but of course we couldn't tell them about what we were doing, so instead we just backed away and started back toward home." That startled me.

Dragan. "Unfortunately, they didn't appreciated their time wasted and chased us all the way to the yard." He walked toward the door they came in from and opened it. "See?" And there, at the edge of the yard, sure enough were hideous creatures that were obviously angry, and frustrated that they couldn't get to us.

Tanu again. "And on our way to rendezvous with the others, they caught our trail and chased us along with the others."

"That's horrible!!!!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, we almost got caught—um, well, Newel did…"

"WHAT?!"

"No, don't worry, he's fine now."

"Yeah, but they scratched me up pretty bad…" Newel came through the crowd, bleeding.

"Oh, let me help you with that." A'isha came from behind us. "We've got bandages in the bathroom cabinet."

"Okay."

Those of us who didn't leave with the others shared a glance.

"Well come on guys, lets go share information." I said.

We all went to the living room and took a seat somewhere. We waited until Newel and A'isha came back, then Dragan started.

"Well, we didn't see anything while we were near the wendigos."

"Which brings us to our conclusion… We think it's near the rocs, which brings us to another question… Why are the rocs here, and not at a dragon sanctuary?" Tanu asked.

"We don't know that really…… Someone put them there. They've been here for as long as Obsidian Waste has been here…" Ashton said.

"So, the vault really is located there…"

"It has to be…" Sarah said.

"Well, we don't want to waste any time, might as well train." Sam said.

And the rest of that night we planned and prepared for our upcoming adventure."

*

When no one else was looking, I ran to Sarah, Sam, Dragan, and Malik. I chose to speak to them because they were Knights.

"Hey guys." I whispered.

"Hey Kendra." Said Malik a little too loud.

"Shh, hush!" I warned.

They all four leaned in and smiled, like they wanted to know the secret too.

"Okay, around one-thirty in the morning, sneak into me and Verl's room. Okay?"

"Why?" Asked Sam suspiciously.

"Because, it's Knights of the Dawn stuff."

"Oh, okay." He said. He said it like he was going to come anyway.

I ran to each family member until everyone agreed.

*


	25. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

Everyone was whispering in confusion for why I asked for them to come. All but the ones who already knew.

"So what are we all here for?" Asked Ulline.

"They are all secret agents working for the Sphinx." Aadyn said.

Gasps.


	26. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

**A'isha's POV-**

I went downstairs for a midnight— one-in-the-morning snack.

Wow. The house was unusually quite, no heavy/uneven/even breathing. Huh, that's weird, the only breathing was from Ashton, Riley, and Brayden on the second story, and Kyle, Dalman, and Macalla from downstairs.

"Hmm…" I wondered.

I went to the kitchen and looked at the stove. 1:30 a.m.

_Oh well… _I thought nonchalantly.

I went to the freezer and got some Moose Tracks ice-cream out. Yum. As I got out a bowl, a spoon, and an ice-cream scooper, I realized something very strange…

When I reached for the bowl in the cabinet over the cook books, the slip with the Sphinx's number wasn't hanging out.

I reached over to the cook book it was supposed to be in, and skimmed through the pages. Nothing. I went through it slower. Nothing. I checked it again and again. Nothing. I put it back and went through the other books, slower and slower until I just gave in.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

I forgot about the ice-cream and ran upstairs, quietly. I ran to our door and opened it.

"Ashton? Ashton, honey, did you take the Sphinx's numbers from the cook book?"

"Hmm? Oh, mm hmm, yeah, of course sweetie, you can borrow my razor. (yawn) Mm, I don't really mind…" He fell asleep when he said "mind."

Sigh. He didn't take it. I started to hear little whispers coming from the right branch in the hall.

I followed the mysterious words, and they led me all the way down to Verl and Kendra's room.

"So what are we all here for?" Someone asked, I didn't talk to the girls' much, so I couldn't tell.

"They are all secret agents working for the Sphinx." Aadyn said.

A bunch of people gasped.

"No," I whispered.

I ran to my room and shook Ashton awake. Before I spoke I made sure he was fully awake, with the light on his night table on, and the door shut.

"Ashton. They know."

"What? They know what?" He asked alarmed.

"They know we're working for the Sphinx."

"What? How'd they figured _that _out?"

"Because _somebody_ didn't hide the paper with the Sphinx's numbers' on it very well."

"I put it where no body would find it!"

"Really, then how do they have it?"

"I don't know! Ugh, now what do we do?"

"We have to make sure they don't get it in front of Riley and Brayden, or they'll help _them_."

"Okay, but what else, I mean, do we confront them about it, or do we act oblivious to the fact that they know?"

"We act oblivious, even though our cover has already been blown, doesn't mean they know it's exactly us."

"All right, but what about when they do get it? Won't they try to run away with it?"

"That's why we say we'll keep it safe, and then we sneak the paper from Mr. Lich back from them, and call them in. Then they'll take care of the rest, and finally, Zzyzx will open, and free the demons."

He smiled and said, "Okay, but for now, we've got to get some sleep."

"Oh all right, 'night."

"'Night."

*


	27. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

**Riley's POV-**

I went downstairs for a one-in-the-morning snack. The house was so quiet, it felt real nice. The only breathing was from the kids downstairs.

I went to the kitchen.

"Ugh." Someone left Moose Tracks, a bowl, a spoon, and an ice-cream scooper on the island. Do people not understand the word "_melt_"?

"Mm, well, guess I'll have it, it's what I was coming down here for anyway. Jeez, I have _got_ to stop talkin' to myself…" I murmured.

I got my snack, cleaned up someone else's, that was now mine too, mess, and went back upstairs to my room.

On my way there, I heard people talking. It wasn't my thing to eavesdrop, but at one-fifty in the morning, and coming from my _adopted_ parents' room, I guess I should listen.

"They know we're working for the Sphinx." My _mother_ said.

"What? How'd they figured _that _out?" Ashton.

"Because _somebody_ didn't hide the paper with the Sphinx's numbers' on it very well."

"I put it where nobody would find it!"

"Really, then how do they have it?"

"I don't know! Ugh, now what do we do?"

"We have to make sure they don't get it in front of Riley and Brayden, or they'll help _them_."

"Okay, but what else, I mean, do we confront them about it, or do we act oblivious to the fact that they know?"

"We act oblivious, even though our cover has already been blown, doesn't mean they know it's exactly us."

"All right, but what about when they do get it? Won't they try to run away with it?"

"That's why we say we'll keep it safe, and then we sneak the paper from Mr. Lich back from them, and call them in. Then they'll take care of the rest, and finally, Zzyzx will open, and free the demons."

"Okay, but for now, we've got to get some sleep." It sounded like he was smiling.

"Oh all right, 'night."

"'Night." The light seeping through the bottom of the door went out.

Gasps. What? How _could _they? That's it. This has all gone too far.

I ran down the hall and paused when I heard people talking. I ran that way and paused when I got to Verl and Kendra's room. Yes! They're all there!

I ran the opposite way, as quietly as possible, going to my room, closing the door, turning on the light, setting the bowl down, and waking up Brayden.

"We need to talk," I said urgently.

"Shoot," He responded. I told him everything that's happened so far, and he answered, "What? How can it be?"

"I don't know! But there's only one thing I can say now,"

"What?"

"We need to talk to the others."

*


	28. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

**Kendra's POV-**

We were in the middle of discussing what we would do when Riley and Brayden all of the sudden burst in through the door, shut it behind them, and Riley looked at us with tears coming down her cheeks.

"Guess what we just found out." She said.

"What?" I asked, and then she told us a whole story of Ashton and A'isha.

"How do we know you're not on their side though?" Warren asked.

"Because I wouldn't've come here if I was. Neither would have Brayden."

"Oh, my gosh!" Brayden exclaimed.

"What?" Asked Riley.

"Kyle and them." He said.

"(Gasp) I'll go get them."

"Okay,"

Riley left. After a couple of minutes, she was back with Kyle, Dalman, and Macalla.

"So they know?" Vanessa asked.

"Okay that's it, this has gotten way out of hand." I said. "Everyone make sure your doors are locked when you go to sleep, and the kids should sleep in your room with the door locked."

"Okay." Everyone agreed.

For the rest of that night, we planned our upcoming adventure, our escape, and how to hide the next artifact.

Zolie had been talking to A'isha a lot before we figured out they were part of the Society. A'isha had been complaining that her house was messy and stuff, so Zolie offered to be their maid while we were here, and so now she was going to be 'cleaning', she was really going to be snooping around, looking for information.

*

Verl and I sat on a bench in the back yard, watching faeries twirl around in graceful ballet-like fashions, trying to get my attention.

"Guys! Guys! Guess what!?" Zolie came running to us.

"What?" We asked in synchronization.

Zolie looked around, as if she were about to tell a secret. "Well, I was cleaning around in the library, and you know, I'm a giant book worm, and well, there was a book that looked kind of cool, so I picked it up and was planning to read it, but instead, the same thing that happened at Caroline's happened over there! I tried blowing on it like she did, but nothing happened, I tried putting the book there to see if was just a trick, but then I threw it, and nothing happened, I poked my head in, and there was no keypad, and then I stepped in, walked around, and still nothing! It's completely safe! And the room is so pretty! You _have_ to come see it! And the best part, is that there's a pedestal in the middle, and guess what's on top of it… A book just like the one in Stefan's house!!!!!!" She got all giddy just like me, I had never explained to Verl about that, so he didn't know what all of this meant.

"Come on!" I said as I ran into the house.

We walked calmly into the library, as if to just relax, and read a good book.

"Okay, where is it?" I whispered as we neared the center of the big room, good thing there were pillars and walls with book shelves blocking our view, Verl had stayed out into the backyard confused.

"Just down here," She said, and indicated to follow her.

We went down a little hallway and turned left. Okay, right here. She climbed up a library ladder, and swung it to the right. She stopped short, and grabbed a hard covered, dusty old book.

"You were just looking around?" I asked confused.

"Wait for it, it takes a minute…"

A few seconds later the part of the wall filled with books that was right in front of me, swung and clattered to the floor. This one didn't slide in smoothly. It literally fell with a puff of dust, and books scattered at my feet.

"(gasp)"

"Don't worry Kendra, it did the same when I took out this book, but don't worry, it'll reform itself."

"(sigh of relief) No, but when I asked if you were just looking around, I meant how do you end up there?"

"I was dusting."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Well, lets not lose focus."

"All right." I followed her in. "(gasp)"!!!!

The room was made entirely of aurora borealis, azurite, quadrillion cut, quartz, quinzite opal, selenite, serpentine, selliminanite, diamond, snowflake obsidian, sodalite, spinel of all different colors, spectrolite, spessartine garnet, star of Africa, star sapphire, sugulite, synthetic ruby, jasper, and sunstones.

Everything was so sparkly, and colorful! In the middle of the room was a pedestal completely composed of sunstone. On that pedestal, was a giant, ebony, hard-cover book.

"This place is amazing!" I said.

"I know! Ah, here we go! I think we should just take the book, because I don't know exactly what to look for, and plus, if we did, I don't know shorthand."

"All right. But, do you think it'll look like any normal book?"

"Yeah, there's this section, its got all dictionaries, there's one that looks exactly like this one… We'll just put the dictionary on here, and so they don't suspect anything, when they come to look and check in here, the "book" will be here, and the dictionary won't be there."

"Smart."

"Yup, okay let's get going before someone catches us."

And so I tried followed her out the door, but she put her hand up.

"Wait."

"Um, okay, why?"

"If you come out here too, we won't be able to put the dictionary in."

"Why?"

"We are running out of time, I'll explain later, just hold on." And she ran out of view.

She came back moments later and I said, "Okay, done now?"

"Yeah." She said as she hurriedly walked past me, positioned the dictionary on the pedestal, trying to make it look like the book had never been touched. "Okay, let's get out of here, I'm already getting paranoid."

We walked out, paused, turned, and stared at the remnants of the books and shelves.

"Um, what about thos—"

"Shh, just watch." She sounded pretty confident, with a smile on her face and all, so I complied.

All of the sudden the scraps floated and arranged in all different twirling motions. The wall rebuilt itself in just moments. After it was completely reformed and the shelves were in, the books magically floated to their spots, as if they were untouched.

I shrugged and said, "Cool."

"Yes it is."

"Okay, we might want to get out of here now…"

"Good point. But first, grab a book and put a bookmark in a random spot."

"Why?"

"Because. It will make it seem like we really need the dictionary."

We went out into the living room and then upstairs, with no one asking anything.

*


	29. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

The entire night, starting around twelve, we were reading, taking notes, and getting scared.

_The rocs are not friendly. They are one of the filthiest, perilous, and most of all strongest creatures living in this preserve! _

Blah, blah, blah, blah, and more blah. There was really nothing important on here. So, since I was holding the book, I decided to turn the page and see if there was anything else around these old pages.

I kept looking, then I froze.

"Uh, guys…" I gasped.

"Yeah?" Seth asked.

"Tanu, do you have Mendigo's golden hooks in your potion pouch?" I asked.

"Yes, why?" He replied.

"Because there's a wizard on the preserve that can restore him."

"What!?" A bunch of my family responded.

Warren took the book out of my hand and read aloud, "Her name is Mistress Kira Saeki. She makes wooden golems. It also says that she can make stuff just like Mendigo. So she'll probably be able to fix him."

"So… We're getting Mendigo back!?" Seth asked.

"Yes!" I said. "Wait, where exactly on the preserve is she, and how can we get there, and while I'm on this question line, when can we get there before we," I whispered this part, "sneak to the vault?"

"Um, it says she… lives with… Mother Nature?" Warren said confused.

"Mother Nature? Great first it's Jack Frost, now it's Mother Nature. You've _got_ to be kidding." I said.

"Nope, no uh, he's, he's telling the truth." Tanu chuckled as he looked in the book.

"Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay… then where are they?" I asked.

"It says here that they live near Goldfish Waters, which is where the mermaids are."

"Wow, now there's also mermaids involved." I said incredibly.

"Wait, I thought that naiads were mermaids." Seth said.

"Actually, we're a type of mermaid race. There's them, us, sirens, the nymphs that follow Halia, oceanids, the sea nymph Calypso is still around, and other water nymphs that would probably take all night to list." Ulline said.

"Okay, but we need to set up a plan…" Tanu said. "When are we going to do this?"

"How about tomorrow night?" Riley asked. We looked over to her and noticed that Macalla was asleep in her arms.

"Alright, everyone is dismissed." Trask said.

And they all left.

*

I couldn't sleep all night. I looked over to my right and noticed Verl was asleep. So I decided to turn on the TV in our room for the first time.

When I turned it on, the channel went straight to [Adult Swim] . I checked the digital clock next to our bed and said _YES!_ in my head. It was 5:29 a.m. In one minute, _Inuyasha_ would come on.

I pressed the guide button on the remote to check what episode it was. The episode was _The Panther Tribe and the Two Swords of the Fang._

I liked that episode. My favorite characters in the entire show were Lord Sesshomaru, Master Inuyasha, Kagome, Kira, Sango, Kilala, and Shipo.

I watched the entire episode. I yawned and decided that I should probably get some rest.

*

Today, the entire day was about research. Everyone—besides the children and Ashton and A'isha—was spread out in the library, finding maps, books on wooden golems, books on how to please Mistress Kira Saeki and supposedly Mother Nature.

"Hey guys, Mother Nature is Japanese. Her name is Kiyoko Naoki." Narinda said.

"It sounds like the Mistress is also Japanese." Elise said.

"Cool. I love their anime." I said.

There were some chuckles.

"Oh, what? An eighteen year old woman can't like Japanese anime shows?"

"No, no that's not what we were hinting at, don't worry about it, let's just get back to work."

And the entire night we did nothing but research, and every time A'isha or Ashton would walk in we'd just say, "Oh we're just looking for some good books and spending time with each other in here." And we would hide the information, books, notes, and stuff like that. By the end of the night, when we had all of our information, instead of taking out the notes, book marks, and forgetting about the umite wax we used on the books, we decided to just take everything to Tanu and Ulline's room.

"Ah, another day of work is finally finished." Verl said.

"Yes. I'll go ahead and set the alarm." Everyone was setting their alarm to two-thirty. When I went over to it, the clock read 9:38 p.m. We were trying to get as much sleep as possible so we would have a lot of energy when we escaped to see the Mistress and Mother Nature.

"Well, goodnight." Verl said.

"'Night……" I murmured.

*


	30. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

I was dreaming a silent dream. all of a sudden, i heard the most annoying sound EVER.

Ugh. Digital alarm clocks always sounded like dying cats. I reached over and smacked the _Snooze _button. I moaned and got up. I looked over so I could shake Verl awake, and noticed he wasn't there.

"Verl?" I asked.

No response.

I got up and got changed anyway.

When I went downstairs, everyone of us was awake. Brayden was still in his pj's.

"Oh, hey we were going to wake you up," Verl said.

"Why didn't you?" I asked accusingly.

"Well, you know we weren't supposed to wake up until two-thirty, we woke up around two-twenty."

"Why's Brayden still wearing his pajamas?"

"He's going to stay and watch his kids."

"Oh. Well, we've got everyone, so let's go."

"Okay."

We went into their barn and took one of their wagons. We had their guard golem, Jasper, start down a trail that Trask told him to. He was holding a map.

We were turning all different directions for about ten minutes.

"We're here." Zolie said.

I looked around, it was not hard because a full moon was out and it illuminated the forest a lot. You could see the reflection of it in an enormous lake.

Suddenly splashes started rippling the pond.

"Who's there?" A worried female voice asked.

"We're friends." Warren said.

A woman with a tail leaped out of the water and landed on a rock. "Friends you say? Then why are you here?"

"We're here to ask a favor from Mistress Kira Saeki."

"Kira!" She hollered while turning around to face the other side.

"Yes?" A female voice asked with a faint accent.

"Visitors." Said the mermaid.

A woman in a komono with Japanese letters all over it walked out of a door, that led to a little hut I completely missed. She had long black hair, fair skin, and anime features. She looked like the famous actress Emi Ikehata, as Naoko, from the big movie _The Grudge 3_. "You can go now Sherr." She said.

The mermaid saluted to us and jumped in the water.

"Sorry, that was my guard, Sherr. What do you want?"

"We want to know if you could fix our Mendigo."

"I have to have a piece of him in order to rebuild. It takes a lot more power to restore instead of make."

"Who is that out there with you Kira?" Asked a female voice with a heavy Japanese accent.

"Come on out here Niyoko."

Another Japanese woman with _very_ long black hair, wearing the same komono as Kira, and normal Asian features walked out of the same door. She looked like the famous actress Aiko Horiuchi, who played _Kayoko_ from all three _Grudge_ movies. Of course the actress herself, not the ghost. "Who are these people?"

"They want to know if we can fix…" She looked at us.

"Mendigo. A wooden golem."

"Yes."

"Won't that take a lot of power to restore?" Niyoko asked.

"Hmm…" Kira walked over to Vanessa and touched her upper arm.

After a couple of seconds Kira removed her hand and walked back near Kiyoko.

"They are our friends. We should help them." Said Kira.

"We were wondering if you could also give him a will." Trask said.

"Believe it or not, that part will be very easy." Kiyoko said.

"Hand us the part of him you have." Kira demanded.

Tanu handed every single little jingle.

Kira put them on the ground in front of her. She stood with her hands in front of her. Kiyoko stood in front of her and took her hands. They stood motionless with their eyes closed, while Kiyoko whispered over and over "Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Air," So fast they got tangled.

Kira kept whispering in a Latin tongue.

Suddenly the jingles clinged together and started floating.

Vines entwined together and water covered over it in a twister. Fire went around them on the inside. Air swirled everywhere. I smelled the same aroma I did when I talked to the Fairy Queen.

In minutes the four elements that surrounded them disappeared and they separated. Kira was on the ground, about to faint and Kiyoko was using a tree stump for support.

Mendigo stood motionless in between them, waiting for orders.

"Mendigo!" I yelled and ran for him. I put my arms around the creppy puppet who still had no face, and was composed of the same old dark wood.

"Hello Kendra. I've been waiting to see you again." Said an inhumanly deep voice.

I gasped and backed away from him. "Did _you_ say that?" I asked hysterically.

"Yes. You asked for me to have a will, now I do."

"We also……gave him the… Power of … speech." Gasped Kira.

Kiyoko was already fine. She put a hand on Kira's back and guided her inside. "You should rest she said."

Kiyoko came back out and Kira stayed inside.

"Is she going to be okay?" Elise asked.

"I don't know, as an immortal I'm fine, but she's weak. The spell took a lot of effort from her, I could feel it." She looked down.

"We're so sorry, is there any way we can repay you?" I asked.

"Yeah, how about telling you… humans to stop trashing my lands? Hmm? Yeah, you people have taken over my world. Global warming? Really? I appreciate the one's responsible for Big Green Help, but it's not doing much. This used to be the best world ever. Now it's trashed, you humans with your buildings…" Then she started murmuring to herself.

"We're sorry, it's not like we ever did anything, it's the other humans." I tried.

"The polar bears are going extinct! The pandas _are_ extinct practically! Do you know how many eons it took me to make this world the way it was before you humans came along? Huh? Hmm? Do ya? No, you don't!"

"Hey, don't get all over us."

"Yeah, look I'm sorry, but I'm getting so mad I'm about to make the Ice Age happen again. The last time I did it was because I got mad because a stupid meteor killed the creation of dinosaurs! So I had a volcano explode in order to melt everything. Then my stupid monkeys decided to do some weird thing they didn't confront me about, then out came you." She put her hands on her hips and shook her head while pressing her lips into a thin line and staring at the ground.

**(Sorry, I loooooove dinos I want to become a paleontologist. Actually, it's more like a palaeoecologist.)**

"Wait. You created dinosaurs, animals, magical/mystical creatures, and bugs, etc.?" Lana asked dubiously.

"Yes. Come here, I want to show you something." And she led us in her hut.

Wow. The inside was much bigger than the outside gave it credit for. It looked like a place you'd see on _MTV Cribs _or something. But of course, no electrical stuff. Instead there was tools, wood, jingles, and little spiritual wills in jars for wooden golems like Mendigo. But there was also stuff like test tubes, beakers, etc. Inside them were multiple flashing colors and sparks of numerous chemicals. All probably unknown to mankind.

"Whoa!" Seth said.

"Don't touch anything. Some of this stuff could dissolve every organ in your body if just a little drop spills on your skin, or anything touching you." She cautioned.

_Wow… _I thought to myself.

"So these are the chemicals and stuff I use to create new beings."

"Cool." Everyone agreed.

"Um, I'm going to go check on Kira." She stepped around us.

We went outside, and we were about to get into the wagon when we heard Kiyoko scream.

We ran inside. Kiyoko was balling her eyes out over a motionless body. She was screaming Kira's name, tears pooling over her face. "She's dead!" Warren and Tanu walked up to Kiyoko and held her back while she held on to the hands around her and cried. "I can fix this, I can bring her back!" Her crying broke our hearts. She kept screaming and crying and trying to do spells.

Nothing happened.

Kira died, we killed her.

*


	31. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

We took care of what happened with Kira. Kiyoko was still trying to get over it, so she was going to stay with us for a while. Sherr, they're mermaid guard, was going to take over the hut. She knew as much as Mother Nature **(Kiyoko)** did, and she had her sister, Casadana, on guard duty. They'd take turns.

After Kiyoko had calmed down, she had made a casket out of vines, wood, and roses. We burned Kira's body, put the remnants in the casket, and instead of burying her, we set the casket gently on Sherr and Casadana's pond, and watched it float away in the mist.

"Thank you so much for letting me stay with you." Kiyoko said.

"Don't mention it. It's fine. We like you, you don't have to worry." Multiple people said together.

We drove home, with Jasper, in only ten minutes. We walked in, and told Brayden the story.

"So there's only one problem now…" Said Trask.

"What?" Tanu asked.

"Well… what are we going to tell A'isha and Ashton?"

"Well… they don't know what I look like…" Said Kiyoko.

"Okay so what do we tell them though?"

"How about we tell them that she's a friend we called in?" I asked.

"Well, they'd ask how we got to the register."

"Not necessarily. I'm immune to everything. Literally." Said Kiyoko.

"So we tell them we called you in to help us get the artifact, when really they aren't coming. We're going to go soon. _Very_ soon." I came up with.

"How about in two days?" Asked Riley. "I mean, we need to do this sooner than anyone thinks. But someone has to stay here to distract them and watch my kids."

"We'll do it." Said Elise and Zolie at the same time.

"Guys. Can't we leave sooner than two days?" I asked.

"Like when?" Verl asked me.

"I don't know… today?" I hesitated.

"But… hmm… yes. Okay, how about today, way later on, it's already… ***reads watch*** six in the morning. We better get to our rooms before someone wakes up."

*

I woke up around eleven in the morning. Verl wasn't there again… that was weird. There was no reason for him not to be.

"Verl?" I asked for him.

No answer.

"Hmm…" I freshened up and was about to go downstairs when I saw the lock on my door had been broken.

Trask, Vanessa, Tanu, Riley and her kids, Newel, Narinda, Seth, Mendigo, Sam, Malik, Aadyn and Kiyoko were all standing near the front door looking confused.

"Hey, what's going on?" I asked.

"Elise, Warren, Ulline, Brayden, Zolie, Lana, Sarah, Dragan, and Doren are nowhere to be found." Trask said.

"Verl wasn't in our bed when I woke up…" When I said that, Sam's eye twitched. No one else saw it but me.

"That's weird. Where would they have gone?"

"Ah, looking for some people aren't you?" A'isha walked into the room.

"Yes. Have you seen everyone else?"

"Yes. I have. The next time you guys want to sneak out, find the artifact without us, and bring a random girl into the house without telling us make sure to have your people nearby." She said with a mischievous grin.

"What did you guys do with them?" Narinda said grinding her teeth.

"Oh, you'll find out. By the way, we know you know who we are working for."

"We know you know we know. We aren't stupid." Newel said.

"Zzyzx will open. Weather you like it or not."

"No it won't."

"We'll see about that." And she walked away.

"What are we going to do?"

"We're going after the artifact. Now." I demanded.

"But we don't have anything." Sam said.

"Yes we do. Everyone, make sure no one sees you. Scavenge the house for weapons. Tanu, get your potion pouch. Trask, get the key."

It took a couple of minutes, but everyone found something. Everyone had atleast two knives, Tanu had his potion pouch and three swords, Kiyoko had her elements **(ha, i said that like if she could lose them!)**, Trask had his double crossbow, and I have the crossbow my grandma used the first time we were tp Fablehaven to try and kill Muriel Taggert. She only got her in the shoulder though...

"Alright, everyone set?" I asked.

"Yes." Everyone said in harmony.

"Okay, let's get going."

We had Jasper take us to the rocs.

"So what are all the potions you've got in the bag, Tanu?"

"Um, remember when we went to Wyrmroost, and had to enter the Dragon Temple and Agad gave me all those potions?"

"Yeah."

"Well, we didn't use all of the fire resistant potions, and the two that made you ten times bigger, then I've got my basics. Gaseous, emotions incase we need some courage, healing, smelling salts, poisons, the ones that shrink you, and the whole bunch."

"Good."

We suddenly came to a stop. Jasper stood at the front of the cart motionless.

"He can't go any farther." Mendigo said.

"Well, can you?" I asked him. He hopped out of the cart and then stepped forward.

"Yes." He said. "When Kira and Kiyoko gave me a will, it made me seem mortal."

"But how come when I led the faerie army to the Old Chapel, they restored Hugo and gave him a will, but when Warren and I went to the Inverted Tower, Hugo couldn't come?"

"Because Hugo is full golem. I'm only half. And, I'm more man-shaped."

"Oh."

"Well, let's be on the move." Malik said.


	32. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

We had to walk about five hundred meters before we met with the rocs.

They stood and crowed at us.

"Stop! We come in peace. We're here to get an artifact before our enemies do." Trask said calmly.

"What artifact?" The head roc—it seemed—said. He had a deep voice.

"The Translocator."

"Leave now."

"We can't. The Sphinx has—"

"The _Sphinx_?"

"Yes. If he gets here before we get the artifact, he has ways to kill you. And he'll come through and get the Translocator and open the great demon prison Zzyzx!" I cried.

He considered it for a moment. "Very well."

"Charmont!" A hissing female voice yelled.

"Don't. We have to let them through. The Sphinx has allies. He'll succeed if we don't let them through."

"Fine."

And they let us through.

We walked to a stone wall. The key didn't look like it would fit anywhere. The key was shaped like an egg, and had prongs on the top half. "Got the key, Trask?" I asked.

"Yes. Its right here."

"How does it work?"

"Do you see this?" Trask pointed to the very top prong. "If you push it,***pushes the top prong*** the whole shape of it shifts and fits perfectly in the wall." When he pushed it, the bottom of the egg spun around wildly and unhooked. It was floating under the top half. When the bottom had unhinged, light filtered from the middle of the egg. The prongs also started spinning wildly, until they disappeared in the egg. Trask let go of the egg and it stayed. The top started floating upward, and the bottom floated slowly downward, until it stopped a couple of feet from the ground. The top stopped in front of Trask's head. In the very center of the egg, was a rock. Trask smiled and grabbed it. "Watch this."

Tanu grabbed the top of the egg and the bottom of the egg, and put the top in the bottom upside down. The egg shrunk smaller and smaller until it turned to dust in Tanu's hands. He dropped the dust to the ground.

Trask took the rock he held and scrutinized the stone wall. "Ah." He realized. He was looking at a small dent in the stone wall. He took the rock and shoved it in the dent. It shone brighter and brighter until it was too bright to look at. Finally it stopped. The stone wall shook and then a door slid into the side of it. "Guess we're good to go." He turned to the rocs. "Would you mind watching over Jasper?" He raised his eyebrow and nodded toward the wooden golem.

Charmont nodded his head and said, "We will take care of your golem."

"Thank you." He turned to us. "Let's go."

We followed him into the stone room. When everyone was in, the door slid shut. Tanu tried to open it. It was impossible until we got the artifact. The worst part was—Macalla, Dalman, and Kyle were with us.

"What are we going to do?" Riley asked.

"What do you mean?" Vanessa asked.

"My kids."

"Well, there are no monsters in here… Do you think it would be safe for her and her kids to stay in here while we go?"

"Yes. You guys should stay in here. We'll try to be fast as possible, but it won't be too easy." Trask warned.

"Okay, we'll stay. Go on, there's no time to waste." Riley shooed us away.

"Okay."

We followed Trask farther into the alcove. We walked farther and farther into a never-ending stone hall. It took us about two minutes until we reached our first obsticle.

We walked into a big stone room. Once everyone's feet were on that specific ground, a giant chimaera creature appeared in the middle of the stone room. Chimaeras were a creature with the front of a lion, the middle of a goat, and the back of a dragon. It had three heads of all of the animals that it was put together with.

We were about to get ready to fight when we heared growling. Apparently the chimaera wasn't the only one we were fighting.


	33. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32**

A firedrake and a phoenix bird came through the ceiling, as if they were ghosts.

"I was going to make you guys gaseous, but now I change my mind. Everyone drink!" He through a fire resistant potion to everyone. Everyone chugged one.

It tasted like Citrus.

"Charge!" I heard Trask yell.

Everyone—including me—charged. I had my knife and crossbow ready. I charged the chimaera. The phoenix was in the air, unharmed. The firedrake was on the ground, two arrows were in his chest, one looked like it had hit the heart chackra; which would explain the reason why he was about to fall. The chimaera was raoring, bleating, and blowing fire. The fire hit my family, but didn't burn them. Not even their clothes.

I charged the back of the chimaera and plunged my knife into the lion's head. It took some force, but it went through it's skull. The goat bleated even louder, and the dragon breathed fire on me. It burned for a couple of seconds, but when it stopped, I looked down and noticed no burn marks, and my clothes still on.

I took the knife out and cut the annoying goat's head off. After the firedrake died, Tanu took his sword and plunged it in the dragon's throat chackra. Seth and I took our knives and Seth stabbed the third eye chackra; when I took mine and hit the crown chackra.

"The only one we've got left is the phoenix." Vanessa said.

We all looked up. The phoenix was in the air. It came down and landed gently on the stone floor.

"Please. Do not hurt me. I am on your side." He said with a calming deep voice.

"Don't trust him." Said Mendigo.

"We aren't." Said Aadyn.

"Please. I could prove it to you."

"How?" Asked Malik.

"Let me come with you. I will tell you what is coming next. And I will help battle."

"Okay. But if you do anything that hints that you're not on our side, you'll die immediately." I said.

"Kendra." Seth started.

I put my hand up and shook my head. "We have to give him a chance."

"Okay."

I turned back to the phoenix. "What is your name?"

"Felix."

"Well then Felix, what's our next obsticle."

"It will take maybe three minutes to get to it. You will be battling with one alicanto, two wyverns, and four gogs."

"Gogs?"

"Giants."

"Alicanto?" Seth asked.

"The enemie of Griffins. They are the same shape and size, but they cannot fly."

"Well, let's go." I said.

Instead of flying, Felix walked in front of us. He was right. It only took three minutes.

We walked into a big room, where instead of it being made of stone, it was compose completely of gold ore.

"Alicantos can only eat gold ore. It is what makes them shine so brightly." Felix informed.

When we looked around, I noticed four giants—gogs—and a giant bird, it looked sort of like a Griffin, with the same shape and size, but the face and claws were different. Its feathers were golden, and shone like the sun.

The gogs noticed our entrance, and charged.

Tanu, Malik, Sam, Trask, and Seth went for the giants. Narinda, Vanessa, Seth, Newel, and I went for the alicanto. Kiyoko was taking care of the wyverns using one of the elements—Air. She had already gotten them caught in a tornado.

The alicanto was surprisingly easy. We kept stabbing and slashing until he was down. To make sure he was dead, I stabbed one last knife into the sacred chackra. It worked. There was no more movement.

We looked over and saw that three of four gogs were dead. The wyverns were still alive, struggling against the force of wind. Felix moved on to them, while Tanu and the others were still under attack against the last gog. We went toward the gog, and finished him. Now all that was left were the wyverns.

We charged them, with all our speed, might, will, and weapons ready. We fought, and fought, Trask tried to speak, but a wyvern slashed him across the chest while spinning uncontrollably in the two hundred miles per hour wind, and he toppled too the ground in a lifeless motion.

"Trask!" I yelled.

We fought and fought and fought and fought, until the wyverns died. And Trask died too.

"What's Elise going to say? We killed him! Just like we killed Coulter, Mara, Stan, Ruth, and Kira!" Said Narinda.

"He doesn't have to die like this." Said Felix.

"What do you mean?"

Felix walked over to Trask's corpse. He dipped his head over Trask's body and shed a single tear that landed on Trask's heart.

It took a couple of minutes in silence, but Trask started breathing again, and his eye lids fluttered.

"Trask!" Everyone yelled and crouded him.

"Ugh, that was worst then the time at Wyrmroost when I was gaseous and was trying to drift in a giant storm." He moaned.

Titters. "Do you think that you'll be able to do our next obsticle?" Vanessa asked.

"Yes. And thanks Felix. So much!" He looked at Felix.

"You are welcome. And the next obsticle is… the vault."

"The vault?" I asked.

"Yes. And there is one glitch."

"What?"

"I don't know what the creature(s) is/are."

"Well, guess we're going to find out ourselves."

We followed Felix through many corridors until we finally came to a stop in a room composed completely of diamond. Everything was made of diamond. The Translocator was sitting upon a podium wich was on an _incredibly _tall pedestal. The pedestal was twice as tall as Tanu and Trask stacked.

The only other thing in the room that wasn't made of diamond besides the Translocator was a lake, but it sure was glassy.

"Do you think it's going to come out the water?" I whispered.

"I don't know." Sam whispered back.

About five seconds later a giant leviathan head popped from the water.

We screamed and dispersed.

_**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**_

That wasn't from the leviathan. The water must've been thirty-six thousand feet deep, because after the roar, a kraken rose form the water. The leviathan slithered out of the water and was going after half the people in the room. It was still coming out of the water.

I didn't think the little crossbow I held would do the job, but I launched it in the air. It hit the leviathan in the neck. Or at least I think it was the neck.

_**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**_

The others were working with it. Kiyoko was using the element—Earth. Giant roots and vines covered the bluish-purple leviathan. They curled and coiled around the body and the head until it was completely wrapped. It squirmed and flapped around the floor, trying to get out of the chocking hold.

Kiyoko had a smile on her face. She looked at it intently and with her eyes, the leviathan and its holdings burst to flames. She was using the third element today—Fire.

The remnants of the leviathan were shriveled tree branches, roots, vines, and burned scales.

Now all that was left was the kraken.


	34. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33**

The kraken was furious of what we did to the leviathan. He used his tentacles to grab a hold of Vanessa. She screamed and squirmed in the fleshy arm. Her hair covered her face and made it look more treacherous.

"Vanessa!" Newel called. A tentacle grabbed a hold of him and flung him to a wall, he rolled and passed out next to the pedestal.

The kraken took the tentacle that was holding Vanessa and plunged it under the water.

"No!" I yelled. I was about to charge when Trask held on to me. "What are you doing? We have to get her! Vanessa! She's going to drown!" I started crying.

"No Kendra!" He yelled.

Sam took my hand and said, "Follow me!" He led me next to Verl and said, "Stay here."

"What are you doing?" I asked horrified.

"If I don't make it… Tell my sister I love her."

"What are you doing?" I asked even more scared.

"Don't follow me!" He turned to Verl. "Keep her here."

Verl gripped me and said, "He knows what he's doing."

I watched Sam run to the kraken. He went behind him, got his knife out along with a sword, and dived in the water.

I made a horrified gasp.

I didn't want to admit it while Verl was next to me, but I love Sam. I haven't known him for long, but we have something. I know it. I can't let him do this. When I saw him dive in, a stab of pain hit me so hard, it felt like I was going to faint.

I held still. Sam took Vanessa out of the water. He laid her across the floor. The kraken heard him gasping, turned around, took a hold of him, and took him under, completely ignoring Vanessa.

I gasped even louder, everyone heard it. Even the ones that were yelling and stabbing the kraken.

"I have to get him! I have to!" I screamed.

"Kendra! No!" He stopped for a minute. "Why do you care so much about him anyway?" He became accusing.

I didn't answer him. I stared at him with wide-eyes instead.

He realized that I loved him. "Oh my god." He whispered. His hold loosened and I ran toward the water.

*

**Sam's POV-**

It took everything I had not to stay near Kendra. The look in her eyes broke my heart. She may be Verl's, but Kendra and I… We have something. I know how she looks at me, and I know how I look at her. I think I may be falling in love with her. Sarah knows the truth. She told me I need to speak with Kendra about it. But I've got a shy side.

I saw how scared Kendra was about what I was about to do, but Vanessa was one of us. I couldn't just let her die like that when I can do something.

So I got out my knife and one of Tanu's swords, and dived in.

Vanessa was still in the kraken's hold, unconscious. I swam in closer to her. I took her hand and tried to yank her out of the tentacle. When that didn't work I took out my sword and slashed off the arm.

I dragged Vanessa to the diamond floor and gasped for air. I was about to give CPR when I was dragged under again. I still held my sword. I tried to cut off the fleshy arm holding me, but it was too late. I could feel the overwhelming sensation of faint-like feelings taking hold of my head. My eyes closed slowly.

A shaking hand gripped my upper arm and made me jump. Kendra's blurry face looked like it would've been in tears if she were dry. She took the sword I held and slashed the tentacle that held on to me. She stabbed it multiple times before it came off. Then she took my hand and led me to the water's surface. We climbed out and crawled to the pedestal.

Trask had already revived Vanessa with CPR.

Kendra and I gasped for air. When we looked at each other, we already knew we were meant to be together… Words could not describe.


	35. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34**

**Kendra's POV-**

Sam and I were meant to be together. It was a no-brainer.

We were about to kiss when we heard a giant roar. We looked over to see our family struggling with the kraken. Felix was in the air blowing fire at it. Everytime it caught, it would go straight under and come back up unscathed.

Sam and I stood and joined our family.

Tanu took two potions at a time and chugged them. They both were ones that made you bigger. Since he took two, he grew twenty times bigger than his actually size. He wrestled the kraken until it was too tortured to fight back. Tanu backed up and went to stand by the pedestal, tying the remnants of his clothes around his waist.

Felix kept setting the thing on fire, since it was far away from the water. But it slapped its way back and dived in, creating a massive splash.

"Stop setting him on fire!" Trask yelled at Felix.

"What?" Felix flew down to his side.

"Kiyoko!" Trask yelled at her.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Can you freeze water?" Asked Trask.

"Yes. It's one of the elements. Why?"

"Kraken's hate the cold. Freeze the water."

"Okay." She put her hands up and pushed, like if she was trying to push down an invisible wall. Suddenly, cold air filled the atmosphere. A thin layer of icy crust covered the water's surface.

It broke in seconds. Kiyoko pushed harder. The ice thickened. This time it couldn't break. The kraken roared in frustration. Kiyoko pushed harder and harder. The ice became so thick, that the kraken could not move around. She kept freezing and freezing. The ice climbed up on the creature and covered it. At first it was thin, till it became thicker and thicker just like the water. Soon the kraken was frozen in water that looked to be -100,000,000,000°F.

"We did it!" Kiyoko yelled in ecstasy.

"No. you did it!" Everyone yelled.

"We did!"

"No! You wrapped up and burned the leviathan, and froze the kraken! You saved us!" Trask declared.

"Okay maybe I did." She agreed.

"Now all we have to do is get the Translocator." I said.

"I've got it." Tanu said. Even with his massive height, he still had to stand on his toes in order to reach the Translocator.

It was shaped like a genie lamp, and made completely of ab and blue abalone.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Tanu said.

"Yes. It is." The Sphinx said.


	36. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35**

A bunch of people piled in the diamond vault and grabbed us. They pulled us past the Sphinx and down a stone corridor.

We walked past the obsticle rooms and to the room where Riley and her kids were _supposed_ to be.

"Where's Riley and them?" Asked Narinda.

"You don't have to worry about them. They're going to a special place." Tha Sphinx said behind us.

I gasped as we walked outside and noticed the rocs' dead bodies laid across the ground.

**Riley's POV-**

My kids cried as the Sphinx and his allies walked into the stone room and grabbed a hold of us.

They took us back to the house where A'isha and Ashton were waiting.

"We'll take care of them." Said Ashton.

They grabbed us and took us to their basement. They dumped us next to everyone else that was "missing".

Elise, Warren, Ulline, Brayden, Zolie, Lana, Sarah, Dragan, and Doren were all sitting on the floor.

"Riley!" Eveyone yelled. Brayden came and embraced me.

"What happened?" I demanded.

"We don't know we woke up here."

"I'm not sure. But I think they've got the Translocator."

"Who?"

"Kendra and them."

"But how'd you get here?"

"The same way they are going to get here."

Minutes later everyone got dumped in here.

**Kendra's POV-**

The Sphinx took us back to the house and dumped us in the basement. Everyone was there.

"Guys. They took the Trasn—"

Suddenly the door slammed open and Dale, Stefan, and Caroline were dumped in.

"They took the Chronometer, and the Immobilizer." Stefan said. He's learned English.

"_What?_" I asked horrified.

"But that means that… they have all the artifacts…" Zolie said.

"Zzyzx is going to open." Dale said in a dreary tongue.

"Mankind is going to end…" I said.

"We have to stop them somehow!" Ulline demanded.

"We can't. It's over. Look we've gone through amazing adventures, seen amazing creatures. But, it's over. We can't win this." Tanu said.

The door opened and the Sphinx appeared. "Get out you fools. It's time to leave." You could tell he was trying to hide his ecstasy.

They led us to multiple vans with tinted windows. We each got into a separate car. Sam and I were in the same car, sitting next to each other with two big buff guys on our sides. One that had a tattoo shaped like a heart that said "mom" with a sheath around it, he was bald, had a short beard, and wore a black tank top; he was on my right. The other wore a full short-sleeved shirt, had long caramel-colored hair in the form of a mullet.

Sam and I looked at each other. He took my hand, and I took his. I didn't want this to be our last moment together. And neither did he…

Mr. Lich got in the drivers side, and the Sphinx got in the passengers seat.

"Where are we going?" I asked hesitantly.

"On a little island way northeast of Japan. Can't even be seen by satellite. And do you know what's on that little island I call "Future"?"

"What?" I already knew the answer.

"Zzyzx."

Sam and I gasped. "No one is supposed to know the location of it." Sam said harshly.

"You don't even have to know it. As long as the artifacts unite, the prison will ***makes noise of joy*** open. Well, it won't, but you know, it could crack open, and the demons would open it a little more until it was open enough for them to come out."

"Then why are we going there?" I asked; scared.

"Because, that's where you're going to die."

"What!?" Sam and I asked in synchronization.

'You heard me."

And the entire ride, car, airplane, boat, whatever we were on/in, Sam and I couldn't help but worry.

I suddenly smelled the same aroma I did when talking to the Fairy Queen.

We were currently on a boat. We've been on it for about an hour so far. Up ahead, an island started to show.

*


	37. Chapter 36 The Opening

**Chapter 36- The Opening.**

We arrived at the island minutes after it showed. Multiple boats landed on the island.

On one boat it seemed there were prisoners. I looked farther and saw my parents staring at us.

"Mom, Dad…" I murmured. "Mom! Dad!" I yelled.

"Kendra! Seth!" They yelled. The Society of the Evening Star wouldn't let them go even to stand next to us.

We walked and walked until we reached a big ditch. There was a giant metal platform preventing it from being an actual ditch.

_I can only picture how deep it is… _I thought to myself.

The Sphinx laughed so hard with joy it looked like he was about to faint. "Finally." He said in a desperate voice. "The Keys To The Demon Prison are finally… all five artifacts in _my_ possession…" He scrambled his words. The Sphinx walked over to the middle of the platform. "Artifacts." He snapped his fingers.

An Asian woman walked over to the Sphinx holding the Sands of Sanctity. An Indian man walked to him holding the Chronometer. The buff guy that was sitting next to Sam walked to him holding the Oculus. A'isha walked to him holding the Translocator. And an American man walked to him holding the Immobilizer.

The Sphinx reached for the Sands of Sanctity and placed it on the platform, in the top right corner; when he set it down there, it shined, incredibly bright, light was filtering from the inside of it. He took the Chronometer and set it in the top left corner; same thing happened to it. He reached for the Oculus—which was on a pillow—and set it on the bottom left corner, but instead of just setting it on it, he rolled the Oculus off the pillow, and it rolled in place; also shining. He reached for the Translocator and set it in the bottom right, and it also shined. He reached for the Immobilizer.

"No! You can't do this! You think they'll listen to you? They aren't our friends! They'll kill us all!" I yelled. I tried to charge, but one of the Society of the Evening Star people held me back. They pushed me behind them and I landed in Sam's arms. Verl looked at us and looked down. A tear fell from his left eye.

I looked up to see the Sphinx setting the last artifact in the middle. It shone and shone. The others got too bright to look at, and the Sphinx hurried off the platform. They all backed up, and stood next to us.

The next thing I see is the artifacts floating in the air, higher and higher, until they were at least fifteen feet in the air. They started spinning around, getting closer and closer, until they attached, and spun uncontrollably, so much the human eye couldn't follow their motions.

The island shook, voices of ecstasy screamed in victory, and the platform split in half. They slid into the ground, and when they did, light of darkness—black light—came through the crack, and the sun went down. The world stopped from the sudden darkness. If we were in space, and looked down to the Earth, you'd only see red and black.

The sky wasn't just a black. It was red black. Red black as in the entire sky was a shaded red, with multiple black clouds.

In seconds, monsters spilled from the hole, one by one, and would generate destruction amongst the world us humans have created.


	38. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37**

The monsters came out in ghostly forms first. Then they went from a gas to a solid as soon as they hit the ground.

_

* * *

__**!!!! **_**(They roared, but the stupid website won't let you see it.)**

No matter what it was, no matter where they were, you could hear it across the Earth.

"_**WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????????**_" I screeched at the top of my lungs. No matter how hard and high I yelled, it looked as if I was just mouthing it.

So far, at least eight million were loose. All free. Free to roam, kill, eat, destroy, create a pure Hell on Earth.

You couldn't hear anyone. Just nonstop thunder and lightning.

I felt an overwhelming sense of lightheadedness. I almost fainted when Sam caught me and tried to take me somewhere safe.

Suddenly every noise stopped.

The island shook harder. "Gorgrog." Said the Sphinx.

The demons made a crazed laugh. I looked up to see the biggest demon yet float to the top of the never-ending hole. He was a glowing red, spikes that matched the size of seven Loch Ness Monsters put together reached the top of his head to the point of his tail. He had a terrible smile on his face, and his eyes were yellow.

"Sphinx!" He yelled.

The Sphinx walked up and said, "I did you a favor by helping you out of that hole. Now do me a favor and kill them!" He pointed to my family and I.

"Sam! Sam run!" I screamed while I could. Sam and I turned around, and I realized, "Wait! We can't leave anyone behind!" When everything went silent again.

Up ahead, the island shook. The shaking got closer and closer, and up ahead, figures showed themselves.

Dwarfs, dryads, hamadryads, meliads, melids, oreads, nephaeaes, satyrs, centaurs, brownies, astrids, cyclopes, all dragons to ever be born—sort of—, griffins, phoenixes, chaemaras, ogres, trolls, grendels, gogs, fog giants, gargoiles, gnomes, golems, giants, minotaurs, alicantos, rocs, Celebrant the Just, and Raxtus came through the dark mist, ready to fight.

They weren't the only ones who showed themselves. A faerie army came through. Not just any faerie army. No, all the faeries in the world. Every faerie I'd ever seen was there and more. Ugly or pretty, skinny or fat.

Leading the army was the little girl from my nightmares. The fifteen-year-old me. She smiled and whispered, "It's time to battle." And I heard it perfectly. Then, she disappeared; floated up to the sky and vanished.

Sam and I looked at each other and knew we were going to survive.

"Charge!!!!" I female voice said. I looked up to see the Fairy Queen herself. Not a moving shrine, not a maniquinne, not a puppet. Her herself.

She had unimaginably pale skin, beautiful brown hair down to her shins, and was wearing a pinkish-white gown, with the sleeves like veils closing around the wrists like bracelets. On her head was a crown the color of her gown.

I don't know how, but I heard her thoughts. She said, _Gorgrog killed my King. And I'm going to kill him._

The creatures charged and fought. Sam and I looked at each other again and got out the knives the Sphinx never took away. "Let's go!" I yelled. I couldn't hear myself, but he could read lips.

We ran toward the demons helplessly with the rest of the light creatures. Sam and I were working on a black serpent-like demon. It hissed and tried to scratch us, but he was down in minutes. We made sure he was dead by starting a fire and throwing in the body.

We moved on to another demon. She was a triclops with nineteen legs, three arms, and seven tails.

She took a little more force, but we got her.

The more demons we killed, the madder the Sphinx got.

Gorgrog was furious, killing as much as possible, including light creatures and the Society. My family and I were trained professionals, and knew how to get out of the way.

"I'm going to go hide my parents." I said to Sam.

"No, let me do it." He paused. "Go over there!" He pointed behind a boulder.

"Okay." And on my way to it, Gorgrog's giant claw gripped me, and pulled me to his face. As soon as we were eye level he roared so loud, I went deaf for three minutes.


	39. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38**

**Verl's POV-**

Kendra and Sam were in love behind my back, I just found out Sarah and I might be in love, I'm thinking this through while fighting a demon, and if Sarah and I _are_ in love, we can't be together.

"Verl!" As soon as I finished the demon, I looked up to see Sarah running toward me, holding the Immobilizer. As soon as she had my attention and was about five inches from me, she said, "Look Verl. I haven't gotten the chance to say this, so I'm going to say it now incase we die. I love you. Since the first time I saw you I wanted to be with you. I don't care if you're a satyr or what. If you and Kendra made it work, so can we. And since she and Sam have got something now, I was just wondering…"

"I was thinking the same thing." I said.

"I have an idea."

"What?"

"I want to drink this so we can be together forever."

"I want you to, too."

"But I'm scared."

"You'll only be asleep for one day." I said in a rush.

She looked around, looked at me, smiled, looked at the serum, and drank. Her head wobbled while looking straight, then she fainted in my arms.

I gave her an uncertain look. I didn't want this. She would never be the same. She'd never die. We'd never die.

As she fainted, I heard the roar of Gorgrog, and looked up to see him holding Kendra. That triggered something. But it wasn't the same. I tried to picture Sarah up there, and then immediately, I cradled her, and ran to put her someplace safe.

**Sarah's POV-**

Before we destroyed the artifacts, I had to do this.

I stood in front of Verl, staring down at The Immobilizer in my hands. "It's okay. You'll only be asleep for one day. But you have to hurry!" He said in a rush.

I looked at him and smiled. Then I brought the goblet to my lips, and let the serum flow swiftly down my throat. The world was suddenly spinning, I had the worst sense of vertigo, like if I had gotten shot in the head. I fell forward and Verl caught me with an uncertain look on his face.

The last thing I heard was the roar of Gorgrog killing more.

*

All I felt was wonder. The serum had a taste I couldn't name.

I was in a meadow with Verl. The smell was like fresh blooms of three million species of exotic flowers. Like they had bloomed right next to a stream.

That wasn't what caught my eye though. Verl wasn't smiling like he usually does when he's with me. In fact, it was the same look he had when I fainted.

"What?" I asked.

"I… I had you drink it…" He murmured staring at the ground.

"What do you mean? I thought you wanted us to be together forever…"

"But I ended your life. You'll never die."

"But I… I thought…"

"I'm sorry. Human and satyr don't belong together." He turned and ran away too fast for me to see.

And I was alone.

*

**Kendra's POV-**

"So, bright!" He murmured.

"Let me go!" I screamed at him.

"Kendra!" Sam yelled horrified.

"Why are you doing this to us? Why are you killing!?" Asked Gorgrog.

"Because you guys are demons! Terrible ones! No one likes you except the Sphinx!" I yelled at him.

He growled and put me closer to his mouth. He opened it. And as soon as he tried to put me in, I took the knife I held, and plunged it in his tongue.

"Kendra!" I looked down to see Sam getting ready to throw his knife. He did. It got caught in one of Gorgrog's knuckles.

He didn't feel it. He was much too big. But the tongue must be stinging, because he growled when I put it in. He loosened his grip. I was about to fall, but before I did, I threw the knife in his mouth, it went in his throat.

He let me go easier, and he screeched at the top of his lungs. I fell.

Before I hit the ground, hands caught me. Sam.

"We'll take it from here." Said a faerie, a dwarf, three dryads, and five minotaurs.

"Oh! I thought he was going to kill you!" He ran with me in his arms.

He dropped me off behind a boulder, where my parents were. "Kendra!" They yelled and hugged me.

"Mom! Dad!" I yelled back. "What did they do to you over the years?"

"They held us captive. We learned of the supernatural." My mom said.

"It'd been so long it doesn't even matter. How long have you known?" Asked Dad.

"Since the first time I went to Grandma's and Grandpa's."

"Fablehaven, right?" Asked my mom.

"Yes. By the way, Grandma wasn't at Aunt Whoever's. She was a chicken."

"That explains so much. Anyway…"

"Can you see what we're dealing with?" I asked.

"Yes. They were nice enough to give us special contacts."

"Okay—"

"Guys! Hide! Gorgrog's going on a rampage! He's killed a lot of us so far, I don't think we're going to make it!" Sam called.

"What?" I looked around him to see more light creature's dead bodies than the demons.

"He's already killed the Sphinx. But I think that's good news."

"Has he killed any of us?"

"No. But way too close. Ashton was holding on to Ulline, and he's dead."

I looked for some shelter, when an idea came to me. "Sam. Go round up all of us, and bring them here."

"But not all of us can fit."

"Go!"

"Okay." And he left.

I looked around and saw a faerie. I'd seen her on the way to A'isha's house, when the nine mobbed me. "Hey!"

She looked over and flew to me. "Yes?"

"I need you to build a ditch right here." I pointed under the boulder.

"Okay." She used magic to lift the boulder, but not make it too obvious. She pushed down on the ground. It made a tiny hole. She kept pushing until it started getting deeper and wider. By the time she was done, all of us and more could fit. She used magic on the boulder to make it bigger. "There you go."

"Thank you so much." I said. She nodded and zipped away. "Mom, Dad, get in."

They complied. Sam came back in minutes. "Everyone get in." He said when he saw my parents. The did too.

"We're missing Tanu, Trask, Elise, Verl, Sarah, Kiyoko, and Doren." I noticed. "Sam, get in I'll go this time."

He hesitated for a moment. "Okay." He said shakily. I turned and he grabbed my wrist. He spun me around and kissed me. For the time, I forgot where we were. What was going on. It was just us.

Then I realized, pushed him back and said, "I'll be back."

He jumped in the hole behind me, and I ran.

I ran and ran and ran and ran, but still, I found no one. I finally saw Kiyoko. She was using all four elements to trap and kill the demons she was cornered by. Once she took care of them, I told her where to go and what to do. She did.

I kept on running, trying to find everyone else as fast as possible. I looked to my left and saw Verl panicking with Sarah in his arms.

"Verl!" I called. He looked over and ran to me. I gasped and said, "What happened to her!?"

"Look, I don't want to be rude, but I love her. And to be together forever with someone, you have to live forever…"

Gasp. "She drank the serum…"

"Yes."

"Look, just go behind that boulder and go inside the ditch you'll see everyone else there." I pointed.

"Okay."

I kept running, making sure to stay out of everyone's way. I tried to hide from the demons, while running, as much as possible. While I wasn't paying attention to what was in front of me, too busy looking around and making sure no demons devoured me, I ran into Trask.

"Kendra." He said.

"Go behind that boulder and into the ditch."

"Okay." He pulled Elise along with him.

Now for Doren.

He was easiest to find. Helping a hamadryad fight a shape shifting demon.

"Doren come on, follow me." I said.

"Okay." We turned and I froze in terror. Nine demons crowded around the boulder.

"NOOOOO!" I screeched. They must have seen me pointing to it. I rounded up as many creatures as I could find. We all went and attacked. We couldn't kill them all, and some died in the process. So I went and got some fog giants and gogs. "Kill them!" I ordered. And they did. Not as easily and they could crush Hugo, but they did.

I ran to the ditch to find everyone's bodies' piled up dead. They were covered in cuts and bruises.

"No…" I murmured. I turned and saw that somehow, all the creatures were laying on the ground also dead. There were still at least seven million demons, hundreds on the island, millions scattered around the world. Little Kendra was right. It wasn't a nightmare… it was a vision.


	40. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39**

I was the only one left on the island—if not the world—who was of light, or so I thought.

I looked around at the furious demons—who Gorgrog was one of—closing in on me, when blinding light broke through them.

Some crumpled to the ground, burned. Others had no effect, whatever it was trying to kill them, wasn't strong enough.

She came through untouched. The Fairy Queen. She walked to me. "Be strong." She said as she wiped away my tears. "I'm not strong enough to kill them. But together, we are." Her voice wasn't high. It was like a sick mother. Not cracking, but strong and forceful.

I nodded and asked, "What do we do?"

"Concentrate, think about love, happiness, joy… light." She took my hand and stood beside me. When she did, I could see the light that blinded everyone. And more. When she took my hand, we shone brighter that the sun.

I closed my eyes. I thought about my parents, Seth, everyone in our family, the Larsens, the Sorensons, Sam…

The demons screamed. The inside of my eyelids grew bright, as if I was looking at the sun with my eyes closed.

After the demons stopped screaming, the Fairy Queen and I opened our eyes at the same time.

The sun was out again. The sky incredibly bright. The demons were no longer there. Not even dead bodies. In their place was dust. All the light creatures were getting up, confused.

Kiyoko came and stood by our side. She closed her eyes and a light breeze blew the dust into Zzyzx. But not even the metal around the ditch was there. It must've turned to dust too. I watched her work. It took a long time, because was blowing a breeze all around the world, getting every single little speck. Magic is a miracle.

Then I realized that no one else was coming out of our ditch. I walked over to it and gasped. I fell to the ground in shock. They were still dead.

"What happened? Are all the humans around the world that were attacked still dead?" I asked the Fairy Queen.

"No. Everyone is alive. The only ones that are dead are to demons and your family. I'm sorry."

"But how? How is everyone else alive, and Kiyoko was in the ditch too…"

"Kiyoko is immortal. The demons worked magic on her to make her seem dead. But… I'm sorry. The reason why your family is still dead is because of _your_ magic."

"What?"

"It's gone. It was too much energy for you to still have it."

"What do you mean gone?"

"Well, you can still see creatures without the milk, and talk to them in English and understand them, but it's just a side effect from being fairykind for so long. Other than that, you won't be able to see in the dark anymore, and you can't recharge magical items, and when creatures look at you, you are just a normal human."

"But what does that have to do with my family being dead?" I asked desperately.

"Because it was so much energy to lose your magic, killing the dark ones and reviving the light ones in the process, the ones you loved the most didn't get any, because you were focusing on the demons the most. I could feel it. I would have stopped and told you, but that would disturb the spell, and the demons would kill us before we restarted."

"We could help." Felix and seven more phoenixes came along.

"How?" I asked.

"We can revive them. But they will be in terrible pain the rest of their lives. They will look dead. They will still have the scars all over them."

"You do that." I had an idea. "I'll be right back." By that time, Kiyoko had finished putting the dust away, and was about to close Zzyzx with the Earth element. "Wait! Wait Kiyoko!" I yelled.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Wait. The artifacts are still down there." I said.

"Shouldn't we leave them down there?" She asked.

"No. We have to destroy them. But first, I need the Sands of Sanctity."

"Okay." She used air to bring them up, _very_ carefully making sure no dust came up with them. It took a few minutes, which proved that it was _extremely _deep. "There you go."

She handed me the artifact, and put the other four on the ground. "Thank you." I said and ran back to the phoenixes. I looked back one more time, how she moved the elements was just so fascinating.

She had tree branches, roots, vines, flowers, and seeds spread all over it. Then she took grass seeds and spread them on. She borrowed some ocean water and sprinkled it on. The grass grew in just point three seconds. Trees grew, all kinds. Ash, cedar, birch, pine needle, conifer, evergreen, maple, flowering such as dogwood, eucalyptus, etc. Vines covered in flowers wrapped around them.

"Oh, now this part is all fruity, and the rest of the island is all green scenery… Oh, that's right! I'm Mother Nature, I'm going to go fix that." She turned to me. "Be back in a jiff."

"Uh, 'k!" And I ran to the phoenixes.

"We were waiting. We knew you were going to get the Sands of Sanctity, so we haven't revived them yet."

"Okay, well, I'm here now and I'm ready." I was so excited I could barely stay still.

The phoenixes took out the bodies and laid them in a row. I took the dust and spread it on each body. No one moved, but they sure looked better. They shed five tears on each body.

Everyone stirred. They awoke and stood up. "'K. Second time." Trask wobbled.

"That was so uncomfortable." Said Aadyn.

"Sarah." Verl murmured. "Will Sarah still be under the Immobilizer spell?"

"Yes." Said Felix.

Mendigo came around from behind me and said, "Thank you Kendra. For everything."

"Your welcome." I said pleasantly.

"Yes. Thank you. The Sphinx is dead. He will no longer be a problem." Said Celebrant the Just.

"No he won't." Said Raxtus.

"Okay. I know he's dead, but where did they all go? The Society, I mean. I don't see any of their bodies around here." I pointed out.

"They've disappeared from existence. They've abused what I've given them: life." Said Kiyoko.

"What about my sister? Teressa?"

"She's alive and well. She dropped out a long time ago. You will see her again at Fablehaven."

"It's time for us creatures to go back home." Said Felix.

"Well, everyone but me. We have to destroy the artifacts first." Said the Fairy Queen while looking at me.

"Of course." Said Felix.

"I want to ask you a question." I told the Fairy Queen.

"Yes?"

"You have… so many shrines. Where do you really live?"

She snickered. "That's for me to know, and for you to find out."

"Oh."

"And Kendra?"

"Yes?"

"Feel free to visit the shrine whenever you want."

"Wow. Thanks. But, hopefully there isn't going to be anymore problems in Fablehaven, or anywhere else."

"Hopefully not." She smiled and turned. "Faeries!" She yelled. Once she had their attention—which was before she even spoke—she started in a strong loud voice, "I've turned you to warriors to save the world, now come back to me as small as pearls!" She had her hands up. When she finished the spell, sparks flew from her hands and hit each and every faerie present, which were all the faeries on the entire planet. The faeries shrunk, and flew to their ruler. "Take flight and go to your homes." She ordered. And they did.

The rest of the creatures followed. "Wait!" I said to Felix.

He flew back to me. "Yes?"

"I have just one favor. When you get back to Obsidian Waste, can you revive the rocs?"

"Of course."

"Thank you."

"Goodbye. I hope to see you again."

"Me too." I murmured. And he flew off.

I turned and saw Sam right in front of me. "Hey." He said.

"Hi." And then I remembered the kiss.

"And um, where were we before you left and I died."

"I think I know." I said. I leaned in first.

He smiled and leaned in too. We kissed. Magic.

Someone coughed. My mom. "Oh, hey mom. This is Sam."

"I know. Very nice gentleman, good choice."

"Well, I think it's safe to go home after the artifacts are destroyed." Said Sam.

My mom left and joined everyone else. "Um, Sam?" I asked.

"Yes?"

"Will you move into our house with me?"

"Of course."

"Well, we better get started destroying the artifacts." Said the Fairy Queen.


	41. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40**

"Kiyoko. Bring the artifacts." Ordered the Fairy Queen.

She brought them over. She set them on the ground the same way the Sphinx did, but so close they were touching.

"Now, Kendra, stand in front of me." Said the Fairy Queen.

I did. The Fairy Queen laid her hands on my shoulders, closed her eyes and murmured something. She let go, looked at me, and smiled. "What? What just happened?"

"You now have the knowledge on how to destroy the artifacts."

"Oh."

"Alright, let's start."

Suddenly, I knew exactly what to do. She stood on one side of the artifacts, and I stood in front of her, about one foot away from the artifacts.

We reached out and grabbed a hold on each others hands. We started murmuring in… Latin?

It lasted about two minutes. An overwhelming force hit us hard. We both fell backwards with gasps.

The artifacts were shining bright. I heard the same sound as I did when I made the replica of me—the stingbulb—before I escaped from the lectoblix. The artifacts shattered, and only left behind yellow sparkling dust. It looked like pixie dust, but I wasn't sure.

"I know." Kiyoko said. She put her hand over the dust, and water poured. When the water interacted with the dust, sparks flew in the air and the dust disappeared, as if it were never there; as if the artifacts were never there.

"Well, I better get going, I need to get home." The Fairy Queen said.

"Wait." I said.

"Yes?"

"I know how to fix it." I figured out.

"What?"

I closed my eyes and concentrated. I thought of nothing but happiness, love, joy, power, light, and most of all, peace.

I could hear them coming. I could feel them changing. I could see them in existence again.

I opened my eyes, and smiled widely. "There back." I said.

"Who?" Asked the Fairy Queen.

"Them."

She stopped and turned. Gasp.

The Fairy King was standing there. "I was never dead. Gorgrog had been holding my soul captive in a… very faraway place from the tree." He had light brown hair, fair skin, and was wearing golden armor. On the golden armor, was encrusted and owl. **(He he he! The cover.)**

"The tree?" I asked.

"A very special tree. Our home. No one know where it is but us."

"My King!" The Fairy Queen screeched and leaped into his arms. "Oh, how did you do it, Kendra?"

"I thought about your feelings." I was honest.

"But I've tried over the eons. Nothing ever worked."

"I have to say, I have no response to that." I looked at the ground.

"Let's go home." He said to her. "Thank you Kendra. Forever. Now when you go to visit the shrine, my statue will be there too."

I smiled. Faerie boys flew around, wearing the same thing he was. "I think I should let you know that, the six astrids who went bad are good again, and that there is now one hundred and six."

"Thank you." Said the Fairy Queen in tears. "For bringing him back." She squeaked. "Here." She walked to me and closed her eyes. She murmured something and suddenly, I shined and went back to normal.

"What happened?"

"You are now Zhynthranponic."

"What?"

"The rarest thing in the entire world. No one has ever had it except for the Fairy King and I. I just made you the second Fairy Queen. The faeries will now bow down to you, and worship you as much as they do the King and I."

"What? Oh my gosh! That's so cool! Thank you!"

"You're very welcome."

"Oh, I have two more questions…"

"Yes?"

"What happened to the rest of humanity?"

"They are alive and well."

"Do they know of magical creatures now?"

"No. They don't remember a thing. In fact, as we speak they are trying to figure out how everyone had a sudden, "black out"."

"So they think that everyone just suddenly fainted?"

"Well, during the spell, all the humans passed out. I made sure of it, they are waking up this moment."

"And one more thing... Could you possibly, maybe make a second Fairy King?"

"Yes." And she did the same to Sam.

"Thank you!" I said.

"You're welcome."

"Wait. Is Seth still a shadow charmer?"

"Yes. He was good with it, so he keeps it."

"Okay. Bye!" I waved.

"Come on. Let's go!" She said to the King in ecstasy. And they flew away.

"Well, I guess we should get going too then."

"Are we going to get there on the boats?" Asked Sam.

"No. Look." I pointed to some phoenixes, rocs, and alicantos that stayed to give us a ride.

"Cool." He said. He put his arm around my waist, and we walked toward a roc.


	42. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41**

Year 1.


	43. Chapter 42

**Chapter 42**

Year 2.


	44. Chapter 43

**Chapter 43**

Year 3.


	45. Chapter 44

**Chapter 44**

So now Sam and I are twenty-one. We are married and have no kids—yet—. So my name went from Kendra Sorenson to Kendra Naomi. We had a lot of people in the house. Including my parents, and Vanessa's sister. You're probably wondering what happened to Obsidian Waste. Well, Aadyn decided to talk to the Conservators' Alliance, and is now caretaker. We stay in touch.

Seth is nineteen. Lana is eighteen. They moved into the playroom attic and remodeled it, and kicked me out. They are married. To be more precise, everyone who was together through this entire adventure is married.

Tanu and Ulline, Trask and Elise, Seth and Lana, Sam and I, Mom and Dad, Newel and Zolie, Doren and Narinda, Stefan and Caroline, etc. Even Dale has gotten married… To Kiyoko! And Sarah and Verl are married. Sarah is now immortal. You'll hear the story in a minute.

Kiyoko knows the risk. She knows that Dale will die, and she won't ever. But, she can't help herself.

Vanessa Santoro is now Vanessa Burgess. Her and Warren had a baby boy. He was the cutest toddler I've ever seen, he always brightened everyone's day. His name was Damen Xavier Burgess. He had Vanessa's olive tone complexion, and straight hair. **(the hair is straight, but not long)** He had Warren's light brown hair, and blue eyes. He was also two years young. And they all lived in Warren's cottage.

Seth decided to visit some old friends. When he went to go see Graulas, he had found out that he had finally passed away.

Graulas might've been a demon, but he did help us in our rough times. So, we decided to give a ceremony.

We also went all around Fablehaven, to see if there was anything else interesting. Olloch the Glutton appeared to be missing. There was no sight of him anywhere. So no one fed him, and no one is in jeopardy.

It also appeared there was no swamp hag anymore.

Not only those, but when we made it back, there were no prisoners in the dungeon, and we set the goblins free. But the wraiths in the Hall of Dread were all still there. So were the ones in the two cells in the hidden room behind the Hall of Dread.

The Fairy Queen and I must've killed any other demon, or mischievous creature, besides wraiths.

So we could finally live in peace. And some never lived to see the day come……

**Sarah's POV- (The day after she drank the serum, and everyone made it back home.)**

"Hey. Looks like Sleeping Beauty finally awoke." Verl smiled.

I got up then froze when I realized that I was already standing, and that we were back at the house. Wow. "What happened?"

Verl saw the shocked look on my face and said, "Your just a bit stronger and faster than you were as a normal mortal." He also related to me what happened with Zzyzx, the monsters it held, and what happened when they all died.

"Oh." Cool! "Hmm…" Then I ran to the door in a split second.

"Wow."

"Lets go see everyone."

"Okay."

We went downstairs and everyone attacked me. "Oh! Your awake! Finally!" Everyone shouted.

We all stayed downstairs and talked for what seemed like hours.

"Um, I found a special spot in the woods that I'd like to show you." Verl said.

"Okay." And I followed him outside.


	46. Chapter 45

**Chapter 45**

We walked outside and into the woods. We walked a long way into them.

Finally we came to a stop in… in… the meadow from my dream! This one had more exotic flowers, and a stream filled with all kinds of colorful fish.

"I came across this place while looking for a flower to give you when you awoke… Um, it's not a beautiful as you in any type of comparison, but… Here." And he handed me a blue flower with purple markings all around the inside.

"Oh, Verl!!" And I ran into his arms, leaned in, and gave him our first kiss.

In that instant, we were the only two people in the world. Like we were flying. There was more than sparks, more than an explosion! This was certainly _more_ than true love.

All of the sudden, he pushed me away. Am I not a good kisser? I felt like curling up in a ball and weeping, until I realized why he did it.

He started to tremble. In a few seconds, he started floating. And then… Then… His legs _changed_. They formed from goat, to human. His fur, and his horns disappeared.

"Verl?" I asked, my voice quivering with shock, excitement, and happiness.

His horns changed into hair, while his white fur changed into white shorts. His face changed also though, it was less childish.

Slowly, he floated down and embraced me. He said, "You did it! You made us being together possible! I… I love you!" He smiled widely… and got down on one knee. "Sarah Naomi. Will you marry me?" He asked, and handed me a rose with an engagement ring around the stem. I don't know how he got it, but at this moment, I really didn't care.

I accepted the rose. I was so ecstatic, I was speechless. Tears streamed down my face as I said, "Ye-YES!!!!!!!!!!!" And we kissed again without him pushing me away.

Suddenly there were dragonflies, butterflies, birds, faeries, lots and lots of sunlight, and true love's happiness.

**Kendra's POV- (After four _more_ years, besides the first three.)**

"So that's the story of the Fablehaven Adventures." I said to Damen. Who was now six.

"That was so cool!" He said happily.

"Can you picture actually going through it?" I challenged him.

"I wish I did. So, this really happened?"

"Oh, yeah. It was some journey."

"Was it fun?"

"Sometimes, sometimes it was sad, sometimes filled with fury."

"Wow." He said in fascination. "So, what about when you went to Soul of Hope… Do you have scars from that one basilisk?"

"Stefina? Yes." I lifted my shirt enough to show my belly, and there were giant scars covering it _all_. They were the most dominant part of me.

"What about the Fairy Sovereigns, or Fairy Monarchs? What happened to them?"

"They're still around. I see them often. I never thought there could be so much passion between to people…" I said to myself. He smiled.

"Damen! Lunch is ready!" Vanessa called.

"Well, you go eat. I'm going to go into the main house… I miss my Sam."

"Bye Kendra!" He gave me a hug and ran into his kitchen.

"Bye, Damen." I murmured.

I said goodbye to Vanessa and Warren, and went out their front door. I walked on to the trail and started going to the main house, when I realized that the forest sure seemed greener than usual. Then I heard laughing.

I walked toward it, and stopped when I reached her. Kiyoko was playing with the four elements.

"Oh. Hey Kendra!" She said.

"Hey Kiyoko!"

"I'll be home in a few. Trying to see if a can make a new species of plants."

"Well, have fun then." I smiled and kept walking. There was a lot of sunlight coming in through the trees. It was beautiful.

I also noticed, ever since the Fairy Queen had made me Zhynthranponic, I could do the same magic as her, so could Sam. Which meant that we could also play with the four elements. And it was also nice to have faeries bow down to us all the time. It was also nice seeing boy faeries in the garden.

As I walked, I also noticed Hugo playing with a group of faeries, of both genders.

"Hey, Hugo!"

"Hey, Kendra!" His speech was amazing. It didn't even sound like rocks sliding together; Mendigo had been teaching him. And he didn't even _have_ to take orders. But he still did. And that was loyal.

"Hey, Mendigo!" I said as i walked by him. He was acting like a therapist to a depressed faerie. Her man left her.

I walked into the house and gave Sam a big kiss. I also gave a hug to my three-year-old son, Michael Sam Naomi.

"Mawmmy?" He asked.

"Yes?"

"Could you and dawy telw me te stowy on how you met?"

"Well, dear, it's a very long story…"

"I wanw o heaw is."

"Okay." And I started on the very first part. On the way to Fablehaven for the first time… Along with him telling about his first adventures with the Knights of the Dawn...

_I guess Happily Ever Afters can come true after all… :D _I thought/smiled to myself.


	47. Index

**Index**

***- Special Power.**

**°- Was Once A Magical Creature.**

**Y- Is A Magical Creature.**

! **- Dead During/Before The Story.**

**—- Bound Together By Marriage.**

**(Not in alphabetical order.)**

The Sorensons-

Seth* — Lana

Stan! — Ruth!

Marla — Scott

The Naomis-

Samuel* — Kendra*

Michael Sam

The Dufus-

Tanu* — Ulline°

The Charmers-

Stefan — Caroline

Dixon-

Coulter!

The Burgess'-

Warren — Vanessa

Damen Xavier

Dale — Kiyoko*Y

Saeki-

Kira*!

Unknown Surname-

Sarah — Verl°

Doren° — Narinda°

Zolie° — Newel°

Aadyn

Riley — Brayden

Kyle

Macalla

Dalman

American Knights-

Malik

Dragan

Sam

Sarah

Society of the Evening Star-

A'isha — Ashton

Sphinx*!

Allies

"Errol Fisk" (Christopher)

Gavin*!Y (Navarog)

Zzyzx-

Gorgrog*Y!

Demons*Y!

Fablehaven-

Graulas*Y!

BroadhoofY!

Other-

Fairy Queen*Y — Fairy King*Y

Faerie Boys*Y — Faerie Girls*Y

Felix*Y

CharmontY — Unknown Other Roc, guarding the vault at Obsidian Waste.** (Brought back to life by Felix.)**

SherrY

CasadanaY

Angela*Y

Bella-Rose*Y

Nafia*Y

Chalize*Y

Caliber the Phenomenon*Y!

Raxtus*Y

Celebrant the Just*Y


	48. End

*******

_**The End**_

*******


	49. My Thanks, Hopes, and Dreams!

**Thank Those Who Read and Enjoyed My Story!**

I would like to thank the people who read, enjoyed, reviewed my story! Currently, I don't have that many people, but hopefully after the book comes out and people are inspired to write their own stories and read other stories, they will read mine.

I'd also like to thank those who encouraged me to be able to finish it. **(not very many people, because not that many people knew.)**

And I'd like to thank my friends** (the ones who encouraged me)** that are christians, who know I am 100% Wicca,**(and also believe in reincarnation)** but stayed with me through thick and thin, including writing this extrememly long story. I want to thank them because they know I think it's wrong to not stay friends with people because of their religion. Well, I wouldn't call Wicca a religion. I mean, what's so wrong about different religions being friends? NOTHING! I'm sorry that I'm completely changing the subject.

**My Hopes!**

I hope that by the time I check this everyday, their will be more and more reviews, from every chapter.

I hope that I get better at drawing.

I hope that some day, I'll actually end up being pretty.

I hope that Fablehaven 5 rocks my world.

I hope that I become rich and famous from acting, drawing, and** (duh)** writing.

I hope that my future is amazing.

I hope that an extremely large amount of people agree with me that humans are taking over the freaking planet!! I mean, animals, bugs, insects, mammals, sea animals, etc. were perfectly fine and then all these humans with their high-tech stuff came along and everything started going extinct.

I hope that some day, humans will find something else to do, because HELLLLLLOOOO!!!!!!!! sex is for reproduction, NOT fun!

I hope that humans stop reproducing other humans. I think there's enough of us, I mean come on people! There's already a little over seven billion of us! Which, by the by, scientists have predicted that by 2025 there will be over 8 billion people and that their will be a world wide food shortage.

I hope to someday be able to control the four elements. Water, Fire, Earth, Air—also known as Wind or Spirit—.

I hope to speak to the Ancient Buddha. **(He was a real person. He was a prince who decided that he was not worthy enough to take control, gave his riches to peseants, and lived off the rest of his life medetating and fasting. Well, 49 days anyway. YES! He WAS fat, but because of all the fasting, he ended up skinny. His real name was Siddartha Gautama and he was INDIAN! NOT Chinese, but the Chinese were some of the people who adapted that religion of worshipping him so now for some reason everyone thinks of Chinese when someone brings up the subject of Buddha. I mean, how? If anyone pays attention to the statues, skinny or fat, he has the jewel on his forehead, and NO that is NOT why I'm saying he is Indian. I'm saying he is Indian because I pay attention in class everyday... well, mostly anyway... and I do research on the things that mostly interest me in this very unusual and god-awful-because-of-humans world.)**

I hope to travel to China, find the perfect spot to meditate in, and travel back in time **(in my mind)** in order to experience living in Ancient China. **(Don't hate me 'cause I'm weird, :D)**

I hope to become a palaeoecologist and dig for dinosaur fossils in China, and maybe even find dragon bones!

I hope that my mother will stop nagging me and giving me speeches about how I should believe in God.

I hope to be the best I can be in the best things in life.

And I hope to live a happy, successful, and beautiful life in the most calming place in China. **(No, I know that won't happen, because it is a very isolated country and does NOT want foreigners in there, ESPECIALLY Americans. But, when I'm grown up, hopefully I'll be able to go there, not to live there, but to stay for a short amount of time, do to the fact that I will be a paleontologist... or palaeoecologist, either one, and will need to dig for fossils.)**

_Hope you enjoyed!_


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